To place a credit freeze on your credit report, visit the website of a major credit reporting agency.You will find an address to send your request for a credit freeze in writing.

You must send your credit freeze request and payment for the credit freeze fee with your request.

It can take up to three business days from the receipt of your credit freeze request for the credit report to be frozen. You will then receive a confirmation in the mail that your credit report freeze has been put in place.

FEWER RESTRICTIONS ON FREEZING CREDIT FILES

By November 2007,consumers in all 50 states will be able to "freeze" their credit reports at the three major credit bureaus to help prevent identity theft.

Previously, Equifax, Trans­Union and Experian Group: generally extended this privilege only to FAMILY identity-theft victimn and to senIor cItIzens as required by state law.

When you freeze, or lock, your credit files, lenders and other third parties can't access your credit report until you request that the credit bureaus "thaw," or open, It.

That means you-or a potential identity thief-can't open a line of credit in your name until the credit-reporting companies get wrItten permission from you to let third parties see your information.

TransUnion (transunion.com) will offer security freezes nationwide starting now, Equifax (equifax.com) says it will offer freezes by November 1st 2007. Experian (experian.com) announced last week that it will make freezes available to all on November 1st. 2007(*)

Consumer advocates say consumers have few options that are as effective as freezes at combating financial identity fraud.

But it's not an easy process,or an inexpensive one.

To freeze a credit report, you must write to each of the three bureaus

(certified mail is recommended). When your file is frozen, you are given a personal identification number (PIN), which you'll need to remove the freeze from the file.

To thaw the files,you must again write to all three bureaus, and. the pro­ cess can take three business days or more. If you can't remember your PIN, it can take even longer.

Then there are the fees; "Generally",Victims of Identity theft can freeze their credit reports at no charge, but non­victims on average must pay $10 to initiate a freeze on one file and another $10 to thaw it.

(Those fees may be reduced or eliminated for residents of states that require lower freeze fees.)

Is a credit freeze right for you? If you've been a victim of identity theft, it's generally a good idea. Even if you haven't been a victim, freezing your credit files provides a powerful layer of protection against identity theft.

That said, if you know you'll be opening a line of credit in the near future, or you're changing jobs and it's likely potential employers would want access to your credit history, hold off for now. That way you can avoid the fees and hassles of having to lock and unlock your files in the near term. -, T ­ ,

 Equifax Credit Reports Get Your 3-in-1 Credit Report Instantly From Equifax.com www.equifax.com

 Experian Credit Report Get Your Free Complete Experian Credit Report & Credit Score! www.CreditReport.com/Experian

 Free Credit Report See Your Credit Report in Seconds! Easy to Read & Viewable Online. www.ExperianDirect.com

View your Free Credit Reports and Credit Scores from all 3 bureaus Three Credit Reports Plus Free Score for $19.95 Click to access

Reviewing the three (3) bureau credit report helps you see how lenders see you, ensure the accuracy of your credit records, avoid ID theft, and complete the financing of your loan.

You can freeze access to your credit files Posted Wednesday, June 13, 2007

WASHINGTON — A recent warning from the Internal Revenue Service raises the question of when it is wise to consider placing a security freeze on your credit files.

The IRS warning focused on a bogus e-mail intended to fool taxpayers into believing they were under investigation by the agency’s criminal division.

The scam tries to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment. If either one is opened, culprits get remote access to the person’s hard drive with the ultimate goal of obtaining personal and financial information that could be used to commit identity theft.

This type of warning is so frequent these days that I wonder who is falling for these fake e-mails. But people do.

And because so many people are victimized by these scams or are having their personal information compromised, many states have enacted laws that allow consumers to tightly control who has access to their credit files.

These laws prevent credit bureaus from releasing information from someone’s files without their express consent — a security freeze.

While a security freeze provides great protection, you need to think carefully about whether to implement one. With a security freeze, lenders and businesses can’t get access to your credit file and so aren’t likely to issue new credit. That in turn greatly reduces the chance that a thief will be able to get credit in your name.

You can, however, lift the freeze temporarily. But it can be time consuming.

The process may require a fee, generally about $10, and it can take up to three business days.

Many states have provisions that require the credit bureaus over the next few years to establish an electronic, telephone or Internet method to allow consumers to lift a freeze in a matter of minutes.

To implement a freeze, you will have to send a certified letter to each of the three major credit bureaus.

At the beginning of the 2007 legislative session, 17 states were considering adding security freeze laws, according to Consumers Union. But by the time many of those legislative sessions wrapped up, only nine legislatures — Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming — had passed such laws, bringing the total of states with security freeze laws to 35, plus the District of Columbia.To implement a freeze, you will have to send a certified letter to each of the three major credit bureaus.

For full details of the various state and District of Columbia laws, go towww.financialprivacynow.com  a Web site set up by Consumers Union. Click on “Learn More.” Then look for “States With Security Freeze Laws.” You will also find a link to instructions on how to place security freezes on your files.

To implement a freeze, you will have to send a certified letter to each of the three major credit bureaus.

I went to the Web sites for the three major credit bureaus and couldn’t easily find security freeze information. You have to type “security freeze” in their search engines. And when you do go to the sites, don’t be discouraged by grave warnings that a security freeze will interfere or prohibit the timely approval of vital credit. Certainly it will slow down the credit approval process.

But you know what? Perhaps the delay and expense in lifting and reinstating the freeze will have two effects. It will block you and identity thieves from easy credit.
Michelle Singletary...( singletarym@washingpost.com( The Color Of Money...© 2007, The Washington Post Co.
Highlights by page author.

When you place a credit freeze on your credit report you must unfreeze your credit report each time you want to apply for credit. You must provide your creditor a pin they can use to obtain access to your credit report.

Even when you request your credit report to be unfrozen it is still protected from everyone who does not have your pin number...(*)See below for acceptions...

To unfreeze your credit report and obtain a pin number you would call the number that is on your credit freeze confirmation. You should receive this credit freeze confirmation from the credit reporting agency once you have requested a credit freeze be put in place.

You must provide the credit reporting agency a date range for your credit report to be unfrozen.

Be sure to choose a range sufficient to allow for your credit report to be unfrozen and your creditor to do a proper check. Once the range is over your credit report goes back into a credit freeze state.

If you suspect you may be the victim of identity theft or credit fraud you can ask the credit reporting agencies to place a fraud alert on your credit file.

The fraud alert is just a flag to alert creditors that they should contact you by phone before extending credit.Creditors are not bound by law to do this and can completely ignore the fraud alert.

Generally a fraud alert expires in 90 days and can be put on your credit report by calling a phone number at a credit reporting agency. Once you place a fraud alert on your credit report the credit agencies share this so you only have to do it once.

A credit freeze locks out creditors unless you manually unfreeze your credit report.  A credit freeze is more complicated and cumbersome but will keep creditors from extending credit because they cannot see inside your credit report.

A credit freeze is permanent unless you remove the credit freeze.

Credit reporting agencies do not share information about credit freeze so you must place a credit freeze on your file with each major credit reporting agency

For victims of identity theft there's always that nagging feeling that once a thief's been able to open fraudulent accounts in your name, it's just a matter of time until it hsppens again.

Now states are enacting laws that offer consumers the ultimate protection: A Credit Freeze.

It basically allows you to have the credit bureaus lock up your file and with it, the ability to get any type of new credit.Consumer advocates say it's the only guaranteed way to prevent identity theft.

But !! the credit bureaus counter that a freeze, for most people, may not be justified by the benefit.

Four states--Hawaii, Kansas, South Dekota and Texas--only make credit freezes possible for identity theft victims who present a police report.

In Washington, the law extends to victims and consumers who have received notice of a security breach involving their personalinformation.

A bill introduced in Congress aims to make the security freeze a federal law, but ONLY victims of identity theft would qualify. A propersition that consumers advocates passionally oppose.

The bill is unlikely to become law in a Democratic led Congress.

The good news: State legislators are listening to consumer advocates pleas for more flexibility and a number of states, including Utah and New Jersey, have already mandated that the bureaus unfreeze files within 15 minutes. According to Ms. Montezemolo, the new laws should go into effect by September 2008.