![]() Later on Wednesday, the company issued a statement that said it was experiencing a high volume of freeze requests and that the system was offline for about an hour to address technical difficulties. An automated voice told me that all lines were busy and I was disconnected. So then I called the Equifax hotline to see if I could put set up a freeze over the phone. The thing is, I need to put a freeze in place at all three, including Equifax. This is the message I got when I tried to freeze my Experian credit report on Wednesday. Instead, the message provided contact information for the two other credit rating agencies - Transunion and Experian. Please try back later." There was no explanation, and no number to call. We cannot process your security freeze request online at this time. But then I got this message: "We're sorry. To put the freeze in place, I had to submit my name, date of birth, Social Security number, and address in an online form. Related: What's a credit freeze and should you do it? On Wednesday, I returned to the Equifax website to freeze my credit and finally sign up for the monitoring. ![]() I think the extra protection is worth the effort and potential hassle. But I'm not planning on opening a new loan or credit card anytime soon. ![]() In New Jersey, where I live, it costs $5. The drawback is that it could get annoying when I want to open a new account myself, requiring me to contact the credit agency to temporarily lift the freeze - and it could cost a small fee depending on your state. "The only way to prevent new account identity theft is through a freeze," said Mike Litt, consumer program advocate with U.S. ![]() It blocks businesses from accessing my report, as long as I don't already have an account with them. After talking to experts, I decided that I should put a freeze on my credit reports as well. ![]()
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