Fraudulent claims on loans and leases are the fastest-growing kind of identity theft in the United States. Incidents of identity theft for leases and loans more than doubled in the last year.
You need to protect yourself from criminals looking to harm your credit and use their identity for themselves. You can request a credit lock from all three national credit bureaus and block access to any person or agency trying to do a credit check on you.
Locking your credit is a preventative measure you can take to prevent any person or agency from accessing your individual information. By taking this step, you actively prevent identity theft and any other fraudulent acts on your credit.
You will need to request locks for each credit report to prevent all credit checks as you navigate your way through, avoiding identity theft.
Each credit bureau will request that you create a user account on their website or app when you join their program. When you are ready to unlock your credit, you will be able to log in and unlock your file with only one click.
You can always air on the side of caution and freeze or lock your credit as a proactive measure. Still, in most cases, you will need to lock or freeze your credit when your personal information or social security number has been exposed due to a data breach.
Keeping track of your credit score and report regularly will help you prevent anyone from taking advantage of your personal information.