Freezing your credit files online: Step-by-step guide with screenshots

In a world with more scams, fraud and deception than ever before, it’s important for consumers to be aware of all the tools they can access to protect themselves. One such tool I was unaware of until recently was a credit freeze. As a young, late 20’s consumer just getting started in the world of credit, learning about freezes was both helpful and confusing. 

I spent a good amount of time during the freezing process thinking to myself: “Why didn’t someone teach me about this earlier?” At least it’s never too late to learn – and in this guide, I’m hoping you will learn how easy it is to freeze your reports and protect yourself from fraud. It’s also free by law. (Until 2018, bureaus charged up to $15 in some states to freeze. So freezing all three could total $45 each time.)

A credit freeze prevents access to your credit reports from the bureau you freeze at, meaning that any banks, lenders or other entities will be unable to access your reports from that bureau. Banks and other companies won’t open a new account in your name without checking your credit file. 

Freezing your credit reports can be a good idea to protect yourself from fraud as it prevents any new accounts from being opened in your name. For instance, if someone steals your information and then tries to open an account at a bank, the bank will be met with the credit freeze notification and the thief’s request will be denied. This also means you can’t open any new accounts, but don’t fret. In one or two minutes, you can temporarily unfreeze or thaw your credit to let banks access your reports. 

This guide will take you through the process of freezing your credit online at all three major bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. If freezing online isn’t your speed, you can also call the bureaus to freeze your reports through the automated phone tool. (Here’s a step-by-step guide to freezing by phone.) Remember, freezing at one bureau does not freeze at all three bureaus. You’ll need to request a freeze at each bureau individually to fully protect your good name and finances. 

How long will this take? What do I need to have?

This process will take about 30 to 45 minutes total if you are starting fresh at every bureau. You’ll need a computer or smartphone to access the bureau’s site, your Social Security number, your address, your phone number, your email address, a password of 8-12 characters (depending on the site), and your phone or email for two-factor authentication (2FA).

Getting started

A few major things to remember during this process:

1. If they ask for a credit or debit card, don’t give it. Freezing is free. So is obtaining your report. As we’ll see, some bureaus have other paid features that you don’t need to sign up for just to freeze your file. 
2. Don’t “lock” your reports. The bureaus sometimes push “locks,” but a freeze is different from a lock. Locks are often paid, as I’ll discuss more later, so make sure you’re sticking to a freeze and not a lock.
3. Two-factor authentication is your friend. Even though receiving a text can be annoying, two-factor authentication is part of how this process secures your information. Only you have the phone with your number, so only you can enter this code to access your information. 
4. If you’re unable to or don’t want to create accounts online, you can do it by phone. Here’s our guide to freeze and thaw by phone. 
5. Ask for help! If anything on these sites confuses you, phone a friend or close relative or even arrange a quick call or visit to your local bank branch. Most of my initial education about credit came from people I know, which I then expanded on with my own research. Ask for help. This stuff is important and there’s no shame in being confused. 

To start, take a quick read over this usa.gov guide site. You can easily navigate to the freeze pages for the three major bureaus at the bottom of this page, as seen in the screenshot below:

Reminder: These links will navigate to the freeze pages. We’ve intentionally linked to a .gov site to help you make sure that all the links you follow are credible. Sometimes a web search can bring up fraudulent websites. We’ll also link directly to the freeze pages that usa.gov links to, but we encourage you to not search for “credit freezes” independently because there are so many scam sites set up by con artists. Here are the direct links for each freeze page:

Experian: https://www.experian.com/help/credit-freeze/

Equifax: https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/

TransUnion: https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/credit-freeze-faq 

You may need to make an account at each bureau first. Let’s dive into the process for each bureau.

EXPERIAN

You can freeze your Experian file in four easy steps. I already had an Experian account when I started this process. We will assume you don’t.

EQUIFAX

Equifax was also quite simple and quick, although it required the most steps. Here’s the direct link for Equifax. Or you can follow the usa.gov site link and click on the Equifax link near the bottom of the page.

TRANSUNION

This one confused me for a few seconds, but I figured it out so you don’t have to. If you click the TransUnion link from usa.gov, it navigates you halfway down the page for some reason and then you have to scroll back up. A better option, use this direct TransUnion link to get you to the right place. You’ll see the screen below.

UNFREEZING / THAWING

Eventually, I will want to open a new credit card, take out a loan or let a landlord vet my credit report. When I need to do this, I’ll sign back in to each bureau and just click the various unfreeze/thaw buttons we’ve seen listed.

You have two options here: scheduling a “thaw” is just a temporary unfreeze. You choose a date for your report to thaw and freeze again, and the bureau will automatically take care of it. 

If you switch your account to unfrozen, it’s up to you to remember to freeze it again. The downside to switching to unfrozen is that you may forget to freeze again. The upside to the manual switch is that whoever is accessing your reports won’t run into your automatically scheduled re-freeze if they take too long.

You may want to thaw your file for:

• A few days if you’re applying for a credit card.
• Maybe two weeks if you’re planning to buy a vehicle and finance it.
• Perhaps two weeks when applying for a home loan, and then thaw it again the week of closing.
• A couple of days if you’re doing something else, like getting electric or gas service or applying to rent an apartment. You should ask your prospective landlord how long they need. 

In any case, I’d recommend scheduling a thaw vs. unfreezing so you don’t forget – we’re all human. I’d definitely prefer my reports frozen as a default. 

FREEZING VS. LOCKING

One of the bureaus brought up locking reports as an option. Here’s Experian’s quick rundown of freezes vs. locks. While freezes and locks both accomplish the same goal of preventing unwanted access to your credit reports, it’s much smarter to stick with freezes. Freezes afford you more legal protections, require the bureaus to freeze or thaw files within certain time limits by law and perhaps most importantly, they’re free! A request to thaw must be honored within one hour by law if requested online or by phone, although it usually occurs within minutes. (The initial freeze can take up to one business day to activate by law.) The bureaus don’t have time limits to honor requests to lock or unlock.

Locks typically come as part of a paid plan and their boundaries are set by the bureau conducting the lock, not the federal law. There may be specific rules you have to follow for that bureau to unlock your reports. Or you may find an additional price point to unlock your reports as part of that payment plan. You should absolutely just stick with freezes. As I’ve just covered, they take minutes to set up, are easy to thaw and are free. And there’s no advantage to you limiting access to your credit file through a lock vs. a freeze.

That’s all for credit freezes. I hope that this guide helped assuage your credit worries, assist a loved one with their freezes, or was just a good read.