Still a pain, but freezing your credit is the 'best protection' from fraud

Americans can help fight identity theft by freezing their credit – now free of charge – at the three main credit-monitoring services. This new policy is part of a law called The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. Over a year ago, a hack of one of those credit services, Equifax, affected nearly 150 million people and exposed personal information including names, social security numbers and birth dates. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the importance of freezing your credit, how to do it, and what to do if you are experiencing fraud.

Delivered by Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King, "CBS This Morning" offers a thoughtful, substantive and insightful source of news and information to a daily audience of 3 million viewers. The Emmy Award-winning broadcast presents a mix of daily news, coverage of developing stories of national and global significance, and interviews with leading figures in politics, business and entertainment. Check local listings for "CBS This Morning" broadcast times.

[shadowdrift]

Or, you can give people the ability to change social security numbers like how we change passwords. Or maybe stop using SSN for opening accounts altogether.

[lisa]

I'm not real computer savvy and I froze all my credit in about 45 minutes. Someone has been opening accounts in my name and I needed to prevent this from happening. The reason I wasn't able to do it when the Equifax scandal broke was because I could never get on their website to do it. I did keep trying for a few weeks but eventually gave up. I'm sure others gave up too. It should always be free to freeze and unfreeze your credit file.

[nhaschka]

Don't forget - every parent should freeze the credit reports of their children with all three bureaus. Credit Parent is an easy way to get the credit freeze done for a child, which is a lot more work than doing for yourself. CreditParent.com

[cr]

Since we need to abide by having a credit score especially as a renter or even for employment; why isn’t freezing just the default!!! All SSN#s should be frozen at all times until the real person actually authorizes and verifies their identity to unfreeze at times of credit inquiries like applying for jobs, rental, credit cards then it should automatically be frozen again after about 2-3 days!

[jenniferoviawe]

Wronnngggg. Its not through the three main credit bureaus. Its 5 different Consumer Reporting Agencies.I just finished doing it.

[TeslaBoy]

A joke what's in real life easy anything is easy anything