Ok I have usually agreed with your advice on this forum so I guess I will have to figure out how to freeze my credit reports. The info should be online somewhere.

And I think Experian is terrible, any time we have moved and bought a new home Experian has had our info all wrong they keep adding our son's credit items into our account even though his first name is different and he is in his 30's, luckily he pays his bills on time.

Here is all the information and links needed on how to freeze it at all reporting agencies.

First pull the free annual report from each agency and make sure it's correct. Make sure you save all the passwords and pin numbers in a safe place so that you can unfreeze them when needed. And I bet that EVERYONE who does this will find they have problems with Experian and the other two go smooth. And Experian will try to get you to buy a report vs giving it to you free as required by law. Don't give in. Make them provide it. They will try scare tactics, false information, ask security questions that no matter what you answer they will claim it's wrong, anything to get you to pay. Don't do it.

Below you'll find directions and links to assist you in obtaining your credit freeze or thaw from each bureau:
EQUIFAX CREDIT FREEZE - [Website]
• Credit freezes may be done online or by certified mail - return receipt requested.
• Check your state's listing for the exact cost of your credit freeze and to see if there is a reduction in cost if you are a senior citizen. (FL is free for over 65)
• Request your credit freeze by certified mail using this sample letter. Please note the attachments you must include.
• If your PIN is late arriving, call 1-888-298-0045 . They will ask you for some ID and arrange for your PIN to be sent to you in 4-7 days.
• Unfreeze: Do a temporary thaw of your Equifax credit freeze by snail mail, online or by calling 1-888-298-0045 .

EXPERIAN CREDIT FREEZE - [Website]
• Credit freezes may be done online or by certified mail - return receipt requested.
• Check your state's listing for the exact cost of your credit freeze and to see if there is a reduction in cost if you are a senior citizen.
• Request your credit freeze by certified mail using this sample letter. Please note the attachments you must include.
• You can also freeze a child's credit report. The information contained at this link is applicable for all three credit bureaus. You must first write a letter to each bureau to learn if your minor child has a credit report and if so, then you can proceed to freeze it.
• Unfreeze: Do a temporary thaw of your Experian credit freeze online or by calling 1-888-397-3742 .

TRANSUNION CREDIT FREEZE - [Website]
• Credit freezes may be done online, by phone ( 1-888-909-8872 ) or by certified mail - return receipt requested. (Some users have reported difficulty with the online method. Please try one of the other options if you too experience difficulty.)
• Check your state's listing for the exact cost of your credit freeze and to see if there is a reduction in cost if you are a senior citizen.
• Request your credit freeze by certified mail using this sample letter. Please note the attachments you must include.
• Unfreeze: Do a temporary thaw of your TransUnion credit freeze online or by calling 1-888-909-8872 .

Link for sample letter.

Sample Letter To Request a Credit Freeze | www.clarkhoward.com

A credit freeze won't do anything to protect the cards/accounts you have open already. Just prevents a new account from being opened..

Not to answer for Justjim, he may have an answer of his own, but his is also the opinion of the lady I spoke with at the Social Security office.

The reason theft of Social Security numbers is so commonplace in The Villages is because there is a very high concentration of people using the relatively few medical facilities, doctor's offices, etc., and these are places where they must disclose their Social Security numbers.

In all probability virtually every one of the 100,000 residents of TV has disclosed their Social Security to one or more medical facilities in this area. That makes this a "target rich" environment for identity thieves.

Although it is true that most of the people in other areas also have disclosed their SSANs to medical facilities, there many more facilities and they are more widespread (as in Tampa) than is the case with TV.

I can only say that the lady at the Social Security office said that statistically TV has a very high incidence of SSAN theft.

I am checking the charges online over coffee every morning. Also spot checking my bank account online. If anyone ever gets access to my Morgan Stanley I am toast. I don't do facebook or tweet, this is the only place any personal info is and I try to remember to not post too much personal data. But I would hate to arrive home only to find out someone had put a mortgage on my house.

Really good idea to check them daily and it's also really important to have a really strong (complicated) password too.

Article below is from Yahoo Finance and has some good information..


Two Million Passwords Snatched From Facebook, Google, Twitter and Others
24/7 Wall St. By Trey Thoelcke
December 5, 2013 7:20 AM

As if there weren't enough reminders for Internet users to frequently change their passwords, this week came news that more than 2 million accounts on some of the most popular social media sites have been compromised in a hack that began in October and may be ongoing.

Chicago-based cybersecurity group Trustwave said that more than 1.5 million website login credentials and more than 300,000 email passwords were stolen from a server in the Netherlands. More than 300,000 of the passwords were snatched from Facebook Inc. (FB), almost 60,000 from Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) and more than 50,000 from Google Inc. (GOOG). Twitter Inc. (TWTR) and LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) were not spared, with more than 21,000 and more than 8,000, respectively, acquired by the malware.

Also hit was payroll services provider Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), with nearly 8,000 passwords stolen.

All the companies were notified of the breach, and ADP, Facebook and others have reset the effected passwords of the compromised accounts. Accounts in nearly 100 countries were affected. Most of those accounts, more than 1.8 million, were in the Netherlands. More than 1,900 of the stolen passwords were from accounts in the United States.

Still, better safe than sorry when it comes to your passwords. Besides changing them frequently, using more secure passwords is always better. According to Trustwave, the most common passwords in this particular hack were along the lines of 123456, password, admin and 111111. Do any of those look familiar? If so, it may be time to rethink your password strategy.