In partnership with TransUnion.

Recently, I published How Paying Off $40,000 In Student Loan Debt Changed My Life. In that article, I talked about how I paid off my student loans, but mainly about credit and how to manage it.

Today, I want to talk about how protecting your credit is the next part of managing your credit.

According to a national survey conducted by TransUnion, security of personal data is something that the average person thinks about, but is unsure of how to deal with – 75 percent of respondents stated that they had become more concerned about data breaches in the past year and more than 75 percent of respondents know someone who has been affected by fraud or a data breach.

However, only 15 percent of respondents feel highly confident they have the tools they need to protect themselves from fraud and data breaches.

Do you know how to protect your credit? I'm sure you've heard of it before, but do you actually know what you need to do in order to make it happen? Here’s a helpful infographic that will help you start your journey to protecting your credit.

 

Don't worry if you feel at a loss when it comes to protecting your credit. As the survey shows, many people feel this way, especially during the “breach age” that we now live in. The important thing is to understand that there are tools available to put you in control.

Credit Monitoring:

Familiarizing yourself with credit monitoring tools is an important first step in taking control of your credit. TransUnion’s TrueIdentity tool is a great (and free) way to ensure you’re protecting your identity. This tool will alert you to critical credit information changes and allows you to lock your credit report with a single swipe or click.

Freezing your credit:

You may also want to consider freezing your credit report if you’ve been involved in a breach or if you suspect your identity has been stolen. A freeze is a way for you to protect yourself so that no one can access your personal credit information without your permission.

A credit freeze also protects people like you and me by preventing lenders from checking a credit report to open a new account. This then can help to prevent fraudsters from opening an account in a consumer’s name and may also prevent credit information from being released for other inquiries.

Recently, the Economic Recovery, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law requiring that consumers be given the ability to place and remove a freeze on their credit files – FOR FREE.

One bureau that is making this extremely easy to do is TransUnion.  They’re offering a new app that will help to make freezing and unfreezing your TransUnion credit much easier!

TransUnion’s new myTransUnion app allows consumers to quickly and easily freeze and unfreeze their TransUnion credit reports for free in a matter of seconds, whenever they need, right from their phone. It’s a super convenient financial tool!

You can download this new app through the Apple Store or Google Play.

Here are two screenshots that show how easy this is to do.

While managing your credit and protecting your identity may seem overwhelming in an age where data breaches are constantly making headlines, taking the time to arm yourself with easy to use tools, like the TrueIdentity and the myTransUnion app, will help put you at ease and in control. 

The post How to Protect Your Credit appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.

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