Do I need to check my credit reports when they are frozen?

June 25, 2023 11:10 AM

In the US - I've had my credit files frozen at TransUnion, Equifax and Experian for a long time. Do I still need to check my credit reports regularly?

I froze these three back in about 2014, I think, after the Home Depot breach. And I think I've never thought about it since! I live in Oregon tho, and there was recently a big DMV breach, which made me think I should check these. So, I pulled all three for my spouse & myself, everything looks fine.

Is your credit file frozen? Do you check your credit reports? It wasn't like it was huge PITA or anything - but it would be "just one more thing to do" and I'd be thrilled to hear it is unnecessary. When searching online the results that say "yes" seem to be from the credit reporting companies - but I think my search is also too vague to turn up very good results.

posted by hilaryjade to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Best answer: Your credit being frozen only means that no one can open new accounts - you could still have inaccurate information about your existing accounts (bank incorrectly reporting late payments, e.g.).
posted by mskyle at 11:29 AM on June 25, 2023 [7 favorites]

Best answer: You need a fraud alert as well as the freeze. If you've ever had a card with a specific bank, even if your credit is frozen, the application will still be processed. Credit card banks usually have a lot of companies that they finance credit for. Some of the credit monitoring apps will tell you if there's activity on your cards as well, and that can be useful when it's not you.
posted by lemniskate at 4:31 PM on June 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you've ever had a card with a specific bank, even if your credit is frozen, the application will still be processed.

Ah that must explain it. I went to buy a grill at Lowes last year and opened the card for the % off. It is only after I got home that I realized, "wait, isn't my credit all frozen?" And yeah, still frozen on all three bureaus. But they use Synchrony, which I have other store cards through.
posted by magnetsphere at 6:23 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've been happy with Credit Karma (free) credit monitoring, which lets you see your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports anytime (with the monitoring, I'm pretty comfortable not looking at them very often). They sent me an alert when one of my credit cards was canceled for inactivity, which the credit card company itself never informed me of. You might need to temporarily lift a freeze to sign up with a monitoring service; here is a Credit Karma article on that.

A side note for those who set up their freezes when they were secured by a PIN: I was peeved to discover that now a freeze can be lifted by having an online account with the corresponding credit bureau, which does *not* require the original PIN to set up and administer. I grudgingly set up free online accounts with each of the big 3 so that nobody else could do it in my name.
posted by adventitious at 7:30 AM on June 26, 2023

Response by poster: Good points, all. Thank you for clarifying this for me. It looks like one of our credit cards offers free monitoring so I’ll get signed up for that.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:35 PM on June 26, 2023