http://www.lifelock.com/about-us/about-lifelock/terms-and-conditions

they claim not to. I have no other information to the contrary at this time.

Anyway, almost all these answers (and more) are on my credit freeze page here: http://www.thegeekprofessor.com/credit-freeze

This is a bit off topic, but it’s the reason why I’m visiting your site today. Just yesterday while at Best Buy, my girlfriend and I were attempting to apply for their credit card. Normally (I assume) they would handle this at the desk, but during system down-times (or maybe high-loads), they send customers to a little computer to apply on their own. The computer is designed to navigate the Best Buy website and do some product research, but since it does have internet connectivity you can apply via their online application located on the site. So, the representative requested that my girlfriend apply for credit on the product search terminal, openly visible on the store-room floor. We proceeded to apply for the card, and just as she began filling out her information, a well-dressed couple walked passed and glanced at the screen. Me, being oblivious to what was going on, hadn’t noticed them taking a peek. My girlfriend saw it, though, and told me to move to her right side to block their view. Within a split second the couple walked passed/behind me and began to engage me in conversation (keep in mind I just thought they were being friendly as they waited for the computer to free-up). He asked about my alma mater (I had on a sweater with the university name), congratulated me on my graduation, and proceeded to ask me: what I studied, what I was doing with my degree, if I lived near by, if I owned a home (which I didn’t hear correctly, and answered incorrectly to the question I thought I heard; my girlfriend later informed me to this fact). Long story short, my girlfriend snapped after they walked off: “if my identity is stolen, you know the exact moment they got my information.” My mind just flipped. Was I honestly the victim of social engineering? I doubted it, until I saw them casually exiting the store not even 2 minutes later. It hadn’t occurred to me that he was attempting to keep my attention while his girlfriend was looking over *my* girlfriend’s shoulder as she was filling out the credit application form. Of course, my girlfriend was kicking herself over the fact that she should/could have either (a) told them to leave while she was handling this business, or (b) not filled out anything while they were there. She said she was trying to cover the screen as best as she could, but, she was still quite paranoid. The important information was visible, her name, SS# and date of birth. It was just amazing how smooth and friendly these people were, and while we might be jumping to conclusions, the conversation was just so awkward after reflecting back on it, that they were surely up to something shady.

We returned home and promptly placed the fraud alert on her credit via Experian’s website, and then I did so as well (I’ve been wanting to anyway). I planned to renew the alerts every 90 days after they expire, but after reading your wonderful site, I’m wondering if a credit freeze is more appropriate.

I have a few questions that are lingering that I was hoping you could answer.:

1.) I understand that it can cost roughly ~$10 to place a freeze on your credit through each agency, is this a one time fee? (This question might make more sense after reading #2)

2.) You mentioned that to “lift” the freeze, it would also cost roughly ~$10. How does lifting work? Does it lift forever, requiring another $30 to re-establish a freeze? Or, is the lift temporary?

3.) If it is temporary, how quickly can it be lifted (hours, days, weeks), and how do you allow a specific person to access it; or put another way: how does the credit bureau know who to let access the credit?

4.) Does placing a freeze on your credit negatively affect your credit score?

5.) Do I need a reason to place the freeze, such as recently being a victim, having a police report, or knowing for *certain* my information has been stolen?

6.) Do we receive any notification when an individual attempts to access our credit? If not, how do we really know if our data has been compromised? Does this simply keep you secure in the fact that they can’t use it at will? I mean that’s nice, but I’d like to know if people are applying for credit under my name/information.

7.) I understand that identity theft is almost exclusively committed for financial gain. However, if they were to sell the identity to say, an illegal immigrant, how would we find out that there is another individual living and using our social? They could be filing income taxes, etc. How would a credit freeze affect this matter? Logically, they’d realize they couldn’t do much in terms of credit, but if they’re content living without credit they could still hurt my reputation/cause me financial distress.

8.) Opting out of the pre-screened offers sounds nice, however I’ve received a few that were enticing. Is there a way to opt back in? I can’t even recall the last offer I’ve actually pursued, but having the option available might be beneficial during hard times (like if God-forbid I needed to make a quick credit transfer to a new card at 0% and no fees that was offering 0% interest for X amount of months).

I feel like I had a few more questions, but I can’t think of them at the moment. If you’d be so kind, I’d love to get your feedback on the above questions, though. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again for your work here, it’s a positive message that I, too, try to spread to my family and friends.

http://www.ica.state.az.us/Divisions/labor/index.html