My dad told me to freeze my credit 5 years ago and I didn't listen.

He said just do it after that Equifax breach but I was 22 and dumb, then last month someone opened a card in my name for $600. Has anyone else had to clean up identity theft after ignoring good advice?

3 comments

3 Comments

angelarivera1mo ago

My mom actually did something similar back in 2018 after the Marriott hack. She kept telling me to just put a fraud alert on my credit reports, you know, the free one that lasts a year. I was like yeah yeah whatever, too busy with work and life. Then last year I tried to open a store card for a discount and got hit with a hard denial because someone had opened a cell phone account in my name in another state. It was only $400 but it took me like three months of calling and mailing letters to get it off. The worst part was the automated phone system kept hanging up on me. Still makes me mad thinking about it.

grant4781mo ago

@angelarivera that sucks lol but honestly those automated systems are the real criminals.

elliotm571mo ago

Read a report saying half of all fraud complaints last year were about automated systems like that.