How to Freeze Your Credit Report.

New-account fraud runs through your credit report. A lender deciding whether to open a card or a loan asks a credit bureau for the applicant’s file, and until you say otherwise the bureau releases it to a lender processing any application that carries your name, date of birth and Social Security number. The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 logged 1,135,291 identity theft reports that year, and 406,110 of them described a new credit card account opened in the victim’s name, against 52,428 describing misuse of a card the victim already had. The new-account kind depends on a lender getting your report. A freeze is the instruction not to release it.

To freeze your credit report, contact Equifax, Experian and TransUnion separately, online, by phone or by mail, and ask each one to place a security freeze. Federal law makes the freeze free, requires each bureau to place it within one business day of an online or phone request, and requires it to lift the freeze within one hour of an online or phone request. Save the PIN or login each bureau gives you, because you need it to unfreeze.

The right to a free security freeze is established under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-1 (FCRA Section 605A), in subsection (i), which the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 added. The 2018 act took effect in September 2018 and made placement and removal free at every nationwide bureau.

The freeze rules that follow apply at the three nationwide bureaus, for adults and for children under 16. Specialty agencies such as ChexSystems, the National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) and LexisNexis run their own freeze processes under their own terms.

How to Freeze Your Credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion

Each nationwide bureau keeps its own file and its own freeze, so one request covers one bureau. The FTC’s Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts handout tells consumers to contact all three, and under FCRA § 605A(i)(2)(A) each one must place the freeze within one business day of a request by phone or secure electronic means, or within three business days of a request by mail.

Have these ready before you start: your full name, current address, date of birth and Social Security number, and access to the email or phone number you will use for the account. Section 605A(i)(2)(A) lets a bureau require “proper identification” before it acts, so expect identity-verification questions.

1. Go to Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services, create an account or log in, and select the option to place a security freeze.
2. Go to Experian.com/help and follow the prompts to add a security freeze to the Experian credit file.
3. Go to TransUnion.com/credit-help and log in or create an account to place the TransUnion freeze.
4. Save the PIN or account credentials provided by each bureau; these are required to lift or remove the freeze later.
5. Verify the freeze confirmation email or letter from each bureau before assuming the freeze is active.

Online is the fastest route and mail the slowest. A mailed request runs on the three-business-day clock from the day the bureau receives it, so the file stays open while the letter is in transit.

Section 605A(i)(2)(B) Requires a Confirmation and a Way to Unlock It Within 5 Business Days

A freeze you cannot remove is a freeze you cannot use. Section 605A(i)(2)(B) requires each bureau, not later than 5 business days after placing a freeze, to send you confirmation and to tell you how to remove it, “including a mechanism to authenticate the consumer.”

That mechanism is the PIN, password or account login the bureau issues. Store all three in the same place, marked by bureau. When you apply for credit a year from now, the lift takes an hour only if you can still prove you are the person who placed the freeze; a lost PIN turns a one-hour lift into an identity-verification process with that bureau.

If no confirmation arrives within 5 business days, log in or call and check the status. Treat an unconfirmed request as not placed.

What a Freeze Blocks, and the 10 Uses Section 605A(i)(4) Leaves Open

Section 605A(i)(1)(C) defines a security freeze as a restriction that prohibits the bureau from disclosing the contents of your report to any person requesting it. In practice that stops the new-account check: a lender that asks for a frozen file in connection with a credit application gets nothing, and Section 605A(i)(3)(D) lets that lender treat the application as incomplete.

The statute then lists 10 uses the freeze does not reach. Under FCRA § 605A(i)(4) a frozen report can still be furnished to:

• An existing creditor, or its collector or buyer, reviewing or collecting your account, including account maintenance, credit line increases and upgrades.
• A federal, state or local agency, court or private collector acting on a court order, warrant or subpoena.
• A child support agency.
• A federal or state agency investigating fraud or collecting delinquent taxes or unpaid court orders.
• A company sending prescreened credit offers under Section 1681b(c).
• A credit file monitoring subscription you signed up for.
• Anyone giving you a copy of your own report or credit score at your request.
• An insurer underwriting a policy.
• Anyone using the report for employment, tenant or background screening.
• Anyone verifying your identity for purposes other than granting credit, or investigating or preventing fraud.

Two of those matter when you are applying for something. A landlord or an employer screening you is on the list, so a freeze does not hold up that check. And a freeze does not touch non-credit identity theft: the same FTC Data Book logged 54,725 tax fraud reports in 2024, and no credit report stands between a thief and a fraudulent tax return.

Lifting a Freeze Takes One Hour Online Under Section 605A(i)(3)

A freeze stays in place until you ask for it to come off, under Section 605A(i)(3)(C); there is no expiration date and no renewal. When you ask, the bureau must remove it free of charge not later than 1 hour after a request by phone or secure electronic means, or 3 business days after a request by mail.

You do not have to remove it outright. Section 605A(i)(3)(E) requires the bureau to lift the freeze temporarily “for the period of time specified by the consumer,” which the bureaus usually call a thaw or a temporary lift. Log in to each bureau’s freeze portal, pick the dates, and the file reopens for that window and closes again on its own.

Lift only what the lender will pull. The FTC’s handout says to lift the freeze at “any bureau a lender will use to check your credit,” so ask the lender which bureau it uses and thaw that one. Where the lender cannot tell you, thaw all three for the application window. A lender that hits a frozen file may treat the application as incomplete under Section 605A(i)(3)(D), which stalls the application rather than approving or declining it.

The FTC Says a Credit Freeze Does Not Affect Your Credit Score

A security freeze has no effect on a credit score. The FTC’s guidance on credit freezes and identity theft states it plainly: a freeze “doesn’t affect your credit score.” Scoring models read the accounts, balances and payment history on the file, and a freeze changes none of them.

Existing accounts keep reporting during a freeze. Section 605A(i)(4)(A) exempts creditors you already have from the restriction, so your card issuers, auto lender and mortgage servicer keep furnishing payment history and balances, and those updates keep moving the score the way they always would. A missed payment still counts. An on-time payment still counts.

Nor does a freeze stop you from using your cards. It restricts who can read the report and does nothing to the accounts themselves.

A Fraud Alert Asks Lenders to Verify; a Freeze Refuses the File

A fraud alert requires lenders to take extra steps to verify a consumer’s identity before extending new credit but does not block the credit report from being accessed. A security freeze blocks the report entirely. Fraud alerts are placed at one bureau and that bureau must refer the alert to the other two under FCRA Section 605A(a)(1)(B). Freezes must be placed individually at each bureau.

Both tools can run at the same time on the same file. The alert needs no police report and no identity theft report, which makes it the step available the same day you spot something wrong; the freeze is the stronger lock once you have an hour to set it up at three bureaus. The full three-way comparison, including the bureaus’ paid lock products, is in credit freeze vs. fraud alert vs. credit lock.

When a Freeze Earns Its Keep: Breaches, Theft and Years Without Applying

A security freeze is most valuable when a consumer’s personal information has been exposed in a data breach, when identity theft is suspected or confirmed, or when the consumer does not plan to apply for new credit in the near term and wants maximum protection against unauthorized account openings.

Breach exposure is not hypothetical. The FTC’s Equifax Data Breach Settlement records that the 2017 breach exposed the personal information of 147 million people.

The cost of leaving a freeze on is the cost of lifting it, and the statute sets that at one hour and no fee. The statute also names the downside in its own words: the notice of rights in Section 605A(i)(5) warns that a freeze “may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval” of a later application for a loan, credit or mortgage. That is a scheduling problem, handled by thawing the right bureau before you apply. See identity theft and credit reports for a full recovery guide.

ChexSystems and Other Specialty Agencies Take Their Own Freeze

The freeze in Section 605A(i) binds the nationwide consumer reporting agencies described in Section 1681a(p), which means Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It does not reach the specialty files that banks, phone carriers and utilities check.

Banks deciding whether to open a checking account can consult a checking account reporting company instead. The CFPB’s Ask CFPB page on checking account denials names Chex Systems and Early Warning Services as companies banks and credit unions supply account information to. ChexSystems runs its own freeze, and ChexSystems states that “all consumers who reside in the United States have the right to place a security freeze on their file,” and that the freeze is designed to prevent checking, savings, credit accounts, loans or other services from being approved in your name without consent. ChexSystems takes requests by mail or email with copies of identification and issues its own PIN.

The CFPB’s list of consumer reporting companies records a freeze on request at two more files the big-three freeze does not reach. NCTUE is the consortium file of new connect requests and payment histories on telecom, pay TV and utility accounts. LexisNexis C.L.U.E. is the claims and loss history that property insurers buy to set eligibility and rates. Each takes its own request.

The FTC’s 2024 Data Book logged 62,982 identity theft reports of bank accounts opened in a victim’s name and 45,553 of new mobile phone accounts. Neither has to run through a big-three report. How the banking file works is in ChexSystems explained.

Parents Can Freeze a Child Under 16 Under Section 605A(j)

Under FCRA Section 605A as amended in 2018, parents or legal guardians can place a security freeze on a child’s credit file if the child is under 16 years old. Section 605A(j) calls the child a “protected consumer,” a category that also covers an incapacitated person with a guardian or conservator. Where the bureau has no file on the child, Section 605A(j)(2)(C) requires it to create a record to hold the freeze, and the statute bars that record from being used to judge the child’s creditworthiness. The freeze prevents fraudsters from opening accounts using a child’s Social Security number.

The request comes from the parent or representative, free of charge, on the same one-business-day and three-business-day deadlines as an adult freeze. Section 605A(j) requires two kinds of documents:

• Proof of authority: a birth certificate or other government document showing parentage, a court order, a valid power of attorney, or, for a child in foster care, a written certification from the county welfare or probation department.
• Proof of identification for the child and the representative: a Social Security card or number, a certified birth certificate, or a driver’s license or other government-issued ID.

Each bureau sets its own intake for a minor’s freeze, so check each bureau’s instructions before sending. The freeze stays until the representative removes it, or until the child, once 16 or older, asks for it to come off. The FTC’s 2024 Data Book logged 21,420 identity theft reports from consumers aged 19 and under, counted among the 86% of reports that gave an age.

What a Freeze Cannot Undo: Accounts Already on Your Report

A freeze works forward. It stops the next lender from reading your file and does nothing about an account that was opened before you placed it, whether a thief opened it or a furnisher reported it under the wrong person.

Wrong-person reporting leads the complaints about incorrect information. In our analysis of 3,482,718 complaints recorded in the CFPB’s public Consumer Complaint Database under “Incorrect information on your report” from July 2025 through June 2026, 66.9% selected “Information belongs to someone else,” ahead of “Account information incorrect” at 18.4% and “Account status incorrect” at 8.7%. Complaints are unverified consumer allegations, the CFPB does not confirm the facts alleged, and the CFPB attributes much of the credit-reporting volume to credit repair organizations and bulk and automated filing, so volume tracks filing behavior as well as harm.

An account that is already there comes off through a different statute. If it came from identity theft, Section 605B requires a bureau to block it within 4 business days of receiving proof of identity, an identity theft report, the identification of the information and your statement that it is not yours; see the Section 605B identity theft block. If it is inaccurate for any other reason, it is a dispute under Section 611, where the bureau must reinvestigate within 30 days.

A Freeze Is Yours to Place; Which Tool Handles the Accounts Already Reported?

Every tool below needs you to place the freeze yourself: Section 605A(i)(2)(A) acts on a direct request from the consumer, and it costs nothing. The choice these tools present comes after the freeze, when a fraudulent or wrong account is already on one of your three reports and has to be disputed at each bureau that reports it.

The weak point on the free route is what happens to your data along the way. Honore, in a 1-star Trustpilot review of Credit Karma on June 25, 2026, wrote: “Ads to free credit report take you to a 3rd party chat that sells your private info. NO credit reports or live help available. If you do, you start getting spammed incessantly from 3rd parties.” Someone freezing a file to keep personal information away from strangers is the reader least likely to want that trade.

Every price is that company’s own published rate, read off that company’s own site on September 15, 2026. Trustpilot scores and review counts as published on September 24, 2026.

What CreditRefresh Does After You Freeze

In CreditRefresh’s September 18, 2026 member-data extract, 2.3% of disputed bureau-level items in mailed rounds had a recorded outcome. Within that 2.3% subset, 47.9% were no longer reported on a newer pull of the same bureau, while 52.1% remained reported with a changed balance, status or negative flag.

A freeze closes the file to new lenders. It leaves every account already reported exactly where it was, and those accounts are what CreditRefresh works on. It reads your three bureau reports through Refresh Monitoring, and Section 605A(i)(4)(F) exempts a monitoring subscription you signed up for, so a freeze and a monitoring account are built to run together. It flags accounts that look inaccurate, incomplete, unverifiable or too old to be reported, and drafts a print-ready FCRA letter for each item you choose to challenge, naming the right the letter stands on. We track each letter against the roughly 30-day investigation window.

It is included with Refresh Monitoring at $49.99 a month, with no setup fee and no contract. The bureaus decide every dispute. You mail each round yourself or hand it to RushMail for a small per-letter fee, and nothing goes out until you review and sign it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Freezing Your Credit

Is freezing your credit a good idea?

For anyone not applying for new credit in the next few weeks, a freeze costs nothing to place and one hour to lift online, under FCRA § 605A(i). The tradeoff is the one the statute names in its own notice of rights: a freeze may delay a later application until you lift it at the bureau the lender uses.

Can I still use my credit cards if I freeze my credit?

Yes. A freeze restricts who can read your report, not your accounts. Section 605A(i)(4)(A) exempts existing creditors reviewing your account, so your cards keep working, keep reporting, and can still receive credit line increases from the issuer.

How do I temporarily turn off my credit freeze?

Log in to each bureau’s freeze portal, or call, and request a temporary lift for the dates you need. Under Section 605A(i)(3)(E) the bureau must lift it for the period you specify, within 1 hour of an online or phone request, and the freeze returns on its own when the window closes. Lift only the bureau your lender pulls if you know which one it is.

Can someone open a bank account if my credit is frozen?

Possibly. Banks can check a checking account reporting company such as ChexSystems rather than Equifax, Experian or TransUnion, and a big-three freeze does not reach it. ChexSystems takes its own security freeze request by mail or email and issues its own PIN.

Can people steal your identity if your credit is frozen?

Yes, in the forms a freeze does not cover. A freeze blocks new credit that depends on a big-three report. It does not stop misuse of an existing card, tax fraud, or accounts opened through a specialty file; the FTC’s 2024 Data Book logged 52,428 existing-card reports and 54,725 tax fraud reports.

Will a credit freeze stop pre-approved credit card offers?

No. Pre-approved offers come from prescreening under Section 1681b(c), which Section 605A(i)(4)(E) exempts from the freeze. Consumers who want to stop pre-approved offers must opt out separately at OptOutPrescreen.com; see how to stop prescreened credit offers.

Does a credit freeze block employment or rental background checks?

No. Section 605A(i)(4)(I) states that a freeze does not apply to any person using the report for employment, tenant or background screening purposes. An employer still needs your written authorization under FCRA Section 604(b)(2) to pull a report for hiring, but the freeze itself does not stop the check.

Is a credit freeze the same as a credit lock?

No. A credit freeze is a federally mandated right under FCRA Section 605A and is free. A credit lock is a product each bureau offers on its own terms of service, and the statute does not define it, so the one-business-day placement, one-hour lift and no-fee rules in Section 605A(i) apply to the freeze and not to the lock.

Last reviewed: September 2026

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. The Fair Credit Reporting Act and related regulations are complex, and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Consumers with specific questions about their credit reports or rights under federal law should consult a licensed attorney or contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directly.

CreditRefresh picks up where a freeze stops, scanning your three bureau reports for the accounts already on them and drafting a dispute letter for each one you choose to challenge, which you review and sign.

Check your three reports after you freeze →