Credit Reporting Recommendation

Dear Hive,

My personal information was compromised a while back during one of the big security breaches and three attempts (that I’m aware of) were made to open credit cards in my name.

What is the best way to see any activity and get my credit score?

Thank you in advance for any guidance.

There's the free annual credit report service.  https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/get-my-free-credit-report

says to use annualcreditreport.com. 

I also suggest Zander Insurance.  Yeah, it costs.  You need it.

Also, I believe they've changed the rules and made credit freezes free. See this link for how to freeze credit:

https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/

If you haven't frozen your credit yet, it might be worth signing up for creditkarma.com or creditsesame.com.

Also, if you do have credit cards a lot of them provide access to your score for free, but that's really only to the score. Creditkarma can give you a bit of a hint of what's going on with new applications, information about balances etc.

To all,

Thank you very much for your help.

I decided to just run my TransUnion report and space out the Experian & Equifax reports to take advantage of the “all three free every twelve months” law.

All my accounts are in good standing and no fraudulent accounts have been opened in my name.

Sweet, I’m probably going to buy a new CX 3 in the next few weeks , days , hours  and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to hit a snag with my credit.

Matt,

I tried to freeze my credit a few months ago but I got kicked out of the system for answering some question(s) incorrectly…I’ll get all my financial records together and have another go at it.

Tim,

My CC issuer doesn’t seem to offer free credit scores so I just hit the easy button and threw $9.95 at TransUnion…808…good-to-go…touring trim, preferred equipment package, ceramic metallic please.

Thank you again everyone!

I try to stagger the three free reports every 4 months or so. 

Some credit card companies (Discover, Capital One, others) do free credit status updates too. 

Credit karma has been great for monitoring. They've even told me about breaches before the news has. It's interesting to see how trans union works differently than experion as well. 

also signing up (free) to haveibeenpwned.com is a good way to get early notifications of breaches. Assuming you trust them with your email address... ;)

If you are getting ready to finance those new wheels, don't freeze your credit until after that's all finalized. 

I've been very happy with Credit Karma.  It's free but they do send you monthly updates and alerts (along with the occasional ad)