How to Unfreeze Frozen Credit Reports
By now, you know that freezing your credit reports is one of the best steps you can take to protect yourself from financial fraudsters. But what happens when you really need access to your reports?
Freezing your loan will make it temporarily less convenient for things like opening a new credit card, signing a new lease for an apartment, opening an electricity bill, or even switching your mobile carrier (that doesn’t stop you from getting your free annual credit report. ). Well worth it in our opinion – you get the extra layer of fraud protection we all need in 2018.
But if you really want to, say, rent your dream apartment, you need to unfreeze, or at least unfreeze, your credit reports so that the landlord can check your credit. Here’s how to do it.
Unfreeze Your Loan Online
The easiest and fastest way to unfreeze your credit is online for all three major credit bureaus.
In the case of Equifax, you will create a password protected account when you block your loan now, so you will need this password to unfreeze the report . You can also unfreeze it by mail or phone, although you will need a PIN to unfreeze the reports if you do it in one of these two ways, which is an additional annoyance. Therefore, for most people doing it on the Internet is the best and most convenient option.
However, TransUnion and Experian require a PIN to freeze your credit (TransUnion requires a six digit PIN, Experian requires a five to ten digit PIN).
Passwords can be safer than PINs if they are random enough. Lifehacker has several resources on how to create a strong password , and you can (and should) use a password manager as well .
When thawing reports, it is important to consider whether the thaw is temporary or protracted. For example, if you are going to buy a house, you need to get rid of the thaw entirely (you can easily do this online).
But if you, say, set up your cable TV account, a temporary thaw is likely to work. “Credit agencies have a feature that allows you to choose the period when the thaw comes and when it will automatically freeze,” writes Consumer Reports . Check with the lender which bureau he is receiving the report from, so you only need to unfreeze this account.
Just remember to check your credit reports (and use a credit monitoring service) when you unfreeze your reports, especially if you are raising them for months.