Have you received a fraud alert from your credit card company? Have you found a suspicious charge on your bank statement? Whatever it was, you may have reason to believe that you’re the victim of identity theft or fraud.
Learning that someone could have accessed and used your personal information is a frightening prospect. If unchecked, unauthorized access to your credit file can affect your credit score and make it more difficult to get credit in the future. It can also end up costing you money in fraudulent charges and the expenses required to resolve identity theft issues.
But there are some things you can do to help protect your information. A credit freeze (also called a security freeze or credit lock) limits access to your credit report. Below, learn what a credit freeze is and how it can help protect you from identity thieves, and how to place a credit lock at one or all three major credit reporting companies.
How do I Freeze My Credit Report?
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There is no hard inquiry to your credit report to check if you’re pre-approved. If you’re pre-approved, and you move forward with submitting an application for the credit card, it will result in a hard inquiry which may impact your credit score. Receiving a pre-approval offer does not guarantee approval. Applicants applying without a social security number are not eligible to receive pre-approval offers. Card applicants cannot be pre-approved for the NHL Discover Card.
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FICO® Credit Score Terms: Your FICO® Credit Score, key factors and other credit information are based on data from TransUnion® and may be different from other credit scores and other credit information provided by different bureaus. This information is intended for and only provided to Primary account holders who have an available score. See Discover.com/FICO about the availability of your score. Your score, key factors and other credit information are available on Discover.com and cardmembers are also provided a score on statements. Customers will see up to a year of recent scores online. Discover and other lenders may use different inputs, such as FICO® Credit Scores, other credit scores and more information in credit decisions. This benefit may change or end in the future. FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and other countries.
Discover Financial Services and Fair Isaac are not credit repair organizations as defined under federal law or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Discover Financial Services and Fair Isaac do not provide “credit repair” services or assistance regarding “rebuilding” or “improving” your credit record, credit history or credit rating.
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Freeze it®: When you freeze your account, Discover will not authorize new purchases, cash advances or balance transfers (including checks). However, some activity will continue including charges from merchants where your card is stored or billed regularly, as well as returns, credits, dispute adjustments, delayed authorizations (such as some transit purchases), payments, Discover protection product fees, other account fees, interest, rewards redemptions and certain other exempted transactions.
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