Ok, recently, I became aware that I could very likely be the victim of identity theft. Doing as I was told like a good girl, I automatically checked for changes in my credit score (I have created no credit myself as of yet-no utility bills, wireless contracts, financing on purchases, etc- so even having an established score would mean that some one has stolen my identity) and was thankful to find no change. But it definitely got me a lot more concerned about my financial security.
While fraud alerts are well-intended, I am in no way naive enough to believe that they're a cure-all for the risk. I know that a lot of lenders will see them and, though they're supposed to take "reasonable precautionary steps", they often end up ignoring them because issuing the credit gives them a chance to profit and what those steps are have not been clearly outlined. If some one who is stealing my identity has my SSN, how do I know that a lender isn't going to ignore that redflag and issue credit anyways?
So in my reading today, I came across an article about freezing your credit all together. It doesn't affect any current credit I have established- ie, it won't bother a cell phone contract as long as I got the contract before the freeze- but prevents any future credit from being established. It's more complicated to get than fraud alerts, and comes at a price, but at $10 to place or remove and $10-12 to lift (if I'm reading correctly, you lift if you want to establish future credit with a single lender and remove for a full "thaw") in my state, I don't see that as putting a dent in my wallet if it's providing safety. After all, what's an extra $12 to get my lights cut on, as long as I know for a fact that it's ME who's doing it!
Thoughts/opinions? If I seem fuzzy on some aspects and you know more, feel free to fill me in. Even though I have no credit as of right now, do you think it's a good option for me to establish one line of credit soon and freeze? I'm not paranoid about some stranger stealing my identity or anything, but I'm well aware that a certain number of people beside myself do have my SSN and CAN steal my identity.



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