In honor of National Consumer Protection Week, we brought in experts from the Federal Trade Commission, the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance and AARP earlier this month to join BBB in sharing vital fraud protection information with our community.
One of the standout recommendations from Anna Burns, director of FTC's Southeast Regional Office, was to place a credit freeze on your credit report to keep others from being able to open accounts in your name. This is especially important with the increasing data breaches we've seen.
As Anna noted, it's very easy to lift the freeze and then put it back in place should you need to open a new account for yourself.
It's estimated that fraud cost Americans $10 billion in 2023, which was a 14% increase over 2022. Many fraud cases are tied to identify theft, and it's important for us to be proactive in taking measures to protect our information.
A credit freeze allows you to lock down your credit reports and prevent identity thieves from establishing new lines of credit in your names. Alternately, you can place a fraud alert on your credit reports, although that provides less protection than a freeze.
Here's how each works:
— Credit freeze. A credit freeze will not affect your credit score or impair your ability to use your existing credit cards. A freeze locks down your credit reports, used by lenders to determine your credit worthiness, not your actual credit. This means you can still allow potential creditors to view your credit, but you'll keep others from setting up bogus accounts using your social security number or other personal information.
If a credit freeze is in place, opening new credit for yourself will just require some advanced planning. You'll need to request a temporary "thaw" with all three credit bureaus to allow lenders to access your reports. The entire online thaw request process for all three bureaus should take about 20 minutes, and your reports can be set to automatically re-freeze on a date you select.
Credit freezes and thaws are now free for all consumers, thanks to federal law passed about five years ago.
You'll need to hold on to your login credentials with each bureau to thaw your reports. A lost PIN or user ID can be difficult and time consuming to retrieve. Handle your login information with each bureau as you would your birth certificate or other important documents.
To be effective, a freeze must be set up with all three credit bureaus. You can visit each site at the following links to set up your freezes: Experian, experian.com/freeze/center.html; TransUnion, transunion.com/credit-freeze, and Equifax, equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services.
You can also submit a request for a credit freeze by mail. Feel free to contact your BBB at 423-266-6144 to request the addresses for each of the credit reporting agencies.
— Fraud alert. A fraud alert is a less drastic, but potentially less effective, protective measure. A fraud alert flags your credit reports, alerting potential lenders to verify the identity of anyone attempting to open an account in your name. Fraud alerts are free and don't interfere with your ability to receive instant credit. However, fraud alerts rely entirely on the diligence of the person performing the credit check. In addition, fraud alerts are temporary and must be reinstated every 90 days in most cases.
It's important to remember that while a credit freeze offers powerful protection, and a fraud alert may also be useful, neither is a guarantee. They will not prevent all forms of identity theft and will not protect you from misuse of existing accounts, but they are a great step toward minimizing the chances of having accounts compromised. Overall, vigilance is key.
This means you'll also want to continue to regularly check your credit reports at www.annualcreditreport.com for unauthorized charges or other signs of fraud. This site provides an easy way to access your free credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — and is the only free credit report site authorized by the Federal Trade Commission.
During our event, Anna also shared details of the commission's ID Theft Resource Center. The site allows victims to create an account and report details of their case. The FTC will use this information to develop a customized recovery plan and will help you track your progress and pre-fill forms and letters for you.
Shred Day is April 13
Another proactive step toward protecting your identity is to safely shred unneeded documents and/or hard drives that contain personally identifiable information and banking information. You can do this for free at BBB's next Shred Day.
The bi-annual event will be held from 9 a.m.-noon in the parking lot of Coca Cola Bottling Co., 2111 W. Shepherd Road in Chattanooga. (Location is near Exit 1A/Airport off Highway 153).
In addition to bringing paper documents and hard drives for destruction, electronics can also be brought for recycling and outdated or unneeded prescription drugs can be dropped off for safe disposal.
Please limit documents to three large trash bags per person and limit hard drives to four per person. For more information, visit bbb.org/Chattanooga or call your BBB at 423-266-6144.
Thank you to our event partners: Resource 1 Tier 3 Data Security, Hamilton County Coalition, River City Shredding, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Cumulus Media Chattanooga, First Horizon and Coca Cola Bottling Co.
Michele Mason is president of the Better Business Bureau in Chattanooga.