After the personal information of 145.5 million people was exposed to hackers during the Equifax security breach last year, the company offered to waive the normal fees to freeze credit reports for individuals if they received a request to do so before January 31, 2018.
Equifax has extended that deadline to anyone who has a credit report on file with them to June 30, 2018. You can participate in the free credit freeze offer even if your personal information wasn’t exposed in the Equifax security breach.
The normal fee is between $2 and $10, depending on your state of residence. In some states, the company can charge consumers for temporarily lifting a credit freeze or permanently removing a credit freeze. These fees are also waived until June 30, 2018.
Here are some things you should know about freezing your Equifax credit report
The option to put a freeze on your credit report exists to help you protect your personal information and prevent any unauthorized person from opening an account, taking out a loan, or getting a credit card with your name.
Before you decide whether to put a freeze on your Equifax credit report, you should know that you’ll have to go through an extra step to unfreeze that report if you want to apply for new credit.
There are two ways to unfreeze your Equifax credit report. You can visit the Equifax web page dedicated to credit report freezes and request they temporarily lift the restriction for a certain company. You can also request they lift the freeze for a specific amount of time, between one day and one year.
If you don’t have easy access to the Internet, you can also contact the Equifax automated line at 1-800-685-1111 or mail your request to Equifax Security Freeze, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, GA, 30348.
If you decide to freeze your Equifax credit report, your other two credit reports from TransUnion and Experian, will not be affected. If you want to freeze those reports, you’ll need to contact each company separately and you may have to pay a fee.
For more great information on all things credit-related, head to our 'Basics of Credit' reference page.
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