How to Freeze Your Credit at All Three Bureaus

A credit freeze, also called a security freeze, limits access to your credit report. It makes it harder for someone to open new credit in your name.

Freezes have been free by federal law since September 21, 2018, according to the FTC. The same law allows free freezes for children under 16.

A freeze does not affect your credit score, per the FTC.

You must contact each bureau separately. A freeze at one bureau does not freeze the other two.

1. 1Pick a method for each bureau: online, phone or mail. Online and phone are faster.
2. 2Give the bureau the identifying information it asks for.
3. 3Confirm the freeze is in place. Online or by phone, the bureau must place it within one business day. By mail, it must place it within three business days of getting your request, per USA.gov.
4. 4Repeat with the other two bureaus.
5. 5Keep a record of how you set up each freeze, so you can lift it later.

A lender cannot check a frozen report. Before you apply for a mortgage, car loan or credit card, lift the freeze at the bureaus the lender will use. Mortgage lenders usually pull all three.

When you ask online or by phone, the bureau must lift the freeze within one hour. A mail request takes longer, so plan ahead. You can freeze your credit again after the lender has pulled your report.

Ask your lender which bureaus it will check, then lift the freeze at each one before the lender pulls your credit.

These three tools are often confused. Here is how they compare.

The CFPB says paid credit locks are no more effective than security freezes, which are free. See the CFPB explanation.

The 2018 federal law that made freezes free for adults also allows free credit freezes for children under 16, per the FTC.

As with your own freeze, you need to contact each of the three bureaus separately. Use the websites and phone numbers in the table above, and ask each bureau how to request a freeze for a child under 16 and what it needs from you.