A brief rant about ID theft and credit card fraud.

[Oldgator73]

Water under the bridge in this case but the protection that prevents this from happening is freezing your credit.

I put a freeze on both my and my wife’s credit. She needed a new phone but T-Mobile said there was a freeze on her credit. I went in while at the store and lifted the freeze. It was still shower frozen. We left the store. Our son was here and tried to purchase my wife a phone online but T-Mobile was still,saying her credit had a freeze. I call the credit agencies and they all said there wasn’t a freeze. What to do?

 

[ziplock]

I call the credit agencies and they all said there wasn’t a freeze. What to do?

Just pay cash? How is your wife's shoulder doing?

 

[workinonit]

Yea I was wondering about how difficult it is and how quickly the freeze can be lifted in the event you need something. I admit, this is the vacuum breaker of personal finance and security.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

A credit freeze doesn't stop you from using your credit, just accessing your history and opening new accounts. Some businesses use credit score to validate identity or in this case maybe it's one of those "free" phone deals you sign up for 2 years or whatever, which by extension is a loan. They wanna see if you've skipped out on other offers before they hand you a phone, doesn't matter if you bring cash or not. The few times I've unfrozen my credit it's pretty much immediate. I've done both online and via 800 number, the only trick is finding the PIN you haven't used for a few years. You lose that, and you're in for a long row to hoe to recover it.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Oldgator73]

A credit freeze doesn't stop you from using your credit

A credit freeze stops a business from checking your credit.

 

[Oldgator73]

Just pay cash? How is your wife's shoulder doing?

Shoulder is better but she had open heart surgery last year. Still recuperating from that.

 

[Onyrlef]

A credit freeze doesn't stop you from using your credit, just accessing your history and opening new accounts. Some businesses use credit score to validate identity or in this case maybe it's one of those "free" phone deals you sign up for 2 years or whatever, which by extension is a loan. They wanna see if you've skipped out on other offers before they hand you a phone, doesn't matter if you bring cash or not. The few times I've unfrozen my credit it's pretty much immediate. I've done both online and via 800 number, the only trick is finding the PIN you haven't used for a few years. You lose that, and you're in for a long row to hoe to recover it.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

Happened to me, I lost my 4 digit pin to Verizon and you'd have thought I was trying to get the nuclear launch codes. I ended up, after a week, at the Verizon Store, getting loud when one of the kids finally cracked and accessed my acct showing my pin # in about 30 seconds. Which was all they ever had to do in the beginning. I was switching from Verizon and they were trying to make it as difficult possible.