Credit monitoringis a service you sign up for that alerts you when there is activity on your credit report, such as a hard inquiry, new account opening, changes to an existing account or an address change. Credit monitoring helps you quickly identify suspicious activity on your credit report and makes it easier to keep your credit history free from errors. But it won’t lock your credit file or keep accounts from being opened in your name.
One of the best protections you can place on your “identity” is acredit freeze. This is the strongest precaution you can take to protect your identity and ensure no unauthorized access to your credit report without your permission. A credit freeze blocks third parties (banks, utility companies, etc.) from accessing your credit report. Since a credit review is required to open many types of accounts, a credit freeze prevents you (and anyone else) from opening an account in your name.
If you do place a freeze, remember that you will need to “unfreeze” your account should you need or approve an authorized credit search. Here are the links for each of the credit bureaus that will take you directly to the page where you can begin the credit freeze process.