Data breaches have become common in our digital world. It’s truly frightening, not to mention a huge hassle, what can happen once your personal information such as your social security number and date of birth have been stolen. Earlier this year I got a letter from AT&T about a data breach that exposed customer calls and texts. Reportedly no social security numbers or dates of birth were stolen in that crime, but it’s not a stretch to imagine that more vital data could be compromised in a future breach.
AT&T offered a year of free credit monitoring, which was better than nothing. I went a step further and indefinitely froze my credit with the three main credit bureaus and I found out how to do it at this government website. It was free to set up accounts at each site and easy to freeze my credit.
I own a home and have a mortgage but no other loans. I’ve got credit cards that I pay off every month. I don’t need more credit cards. I don’t need another loan. If at some point I do, it will be easy enough to unfreeze my credit. Freezing my credit will stop anyone from taking out more credit with my name or social security number.
All your sensitive data is out there and vulnerable to hackers. It seems like it’s no longer a question of if your data will be exposed, but when. If you aren’t buying a house, getting a car loan or more credit cards anytime soon, I highly recommend freezing your credit. I did, and I sleep easier because of it.