It depends. If you suspect that your personal credit information might have been compromised and you want the credit bureaus to flag your credit file for possible fraud, you can contact the three major credit bureaus and request a fraud alert. It will remain in effect only for 90 days. After that, you'll need to contact the credit bureaus again and reactivate the alert. Ideally, you should need to contact only one of the three credit bureaus and they will notify the other two, but some studies have found that this doesn't always happen. If you can prove that you are actually a victim of identity theft fraud, you can apply for a seven-year victim statement in your credit file that will keep the fraud alert in place for seven years.
Fraud alerts notify creditors who access your credit file that you may be the victim of identity theft, but they do not keep creditors from issuing new credit in your own name. You can request any of the three credit reporting agencies to place a "security freeze" on your credit file which will keep anyone from accessing your credit report without your permission (unless such access is exempt under law). With a security freeze, you must remove or temporarily lift the freeze whenever you plan to apply for credit. Contact the credit reporting agencies about their policies. Security freezes are free of charge unless you have not reported the crime to the police (or other entity in accordance with the laws of your state) and have a copy of the police report. Otherwise, credit reporting agencies can charge up to $10 each time you place or lift a freeze on your credit file.
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