It's good practice to keep a freeze on your credit report at all times unless actively applying for credit

While all 3 credit bureaus have decent fraud detection to help reduce the risk of identity theft, keeping a freeze on your credit reports prevents new credit from being opened altogether. You can set up freezes for free with all of the bureaus, and it only takes a few minutes. There is literally no downside to doing this, except for the small bit of friction that comes with having to unfreeze your credit when you want to get a new credit card, car loan, etc.

I found out about this a couple years ago when I noticed a fraudulent credit application on my Equifax report. I ultimately filed a police report, disputed the application, and had it removed, but it was a pain in the neck and was something I shouldn’t have had to do at all. Thankfully they were not successful in their credit application.

Now, I keep a freeze on my reports at all times. When/if I apply for credit, I can go in and schedule a "thaw" for a period of time, which takes less than 5 minutes.

This can also be done for people who you know won't need to apply for credit at all or any time soon, such as children, elderly, or disabled people.

With how frequently we see data breaches and sensitive data exposure, the likelihood is high that your SSN is floating around on the dark web somewhere. It's best to take a proactive step and prevent new credit from being opened in the first place than it is to dispute it or find out that your credit score is 300 because someone stole your identity.

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