How to unlock equifax credit freeze
How to Freeze and Unfreeze Credit Reports
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I'm Eddie Janelle and I'm Tom Cannella
welcome everyone you were at the
mortgage brothers podcast show that's
right and today we are we're doing a
little how-to and then what we're
dealing with is how to freeze and
unfreeze your credit we know you're
driving home right now we're driving the
work thinking boy I really want to know
about freezing and unfreezing my credit
so so even though it's it's not as good
as a cup of orange juice or that cup of
coffee you're drinking it is something
that we know we all think about and in
today's day and age where everything is
becoming more and more automated whether
we like it or not everything is becoming
more password oriented and and techie
which means people can start seeing
things and accessing things that you
know that you don't want access and that
includes your credit that's right and
the most effective way and safest way to
actually you know keep your identity
safe your credits is to basically freeze
your credit and it's free mm-hmm it's
free with two bureaus okay everyone
there's three bureaus you all know most
of you know that there's three bureaus
the two bureaus that this is free with
is Equifax and TransUnion so what I'm
going to show you today is I'm going to
share a screen here and really this is
anyone who's listening to this on
podcasts really the best way to
participate in this is to actually go to
our YouTube channel the mortgage
brothers team and you'll search the
freezing credit or I'm freezing so
number one let's just start Tom by you
know showing them how to how to do this
okay okay you know you're gonna pull
something up on the screen yeah I'm
gonna I'm gonna share my screen right
now okay and so for all those drivers
that are like ding I don't have a screen
well we'll just talk intuitively enough
to where they can figure it out when
they go yeah that's for the stream that
that's correct so if you go to the
Equifax com website and you go under
personal
the tab you will basically be able to
scroll down you can say you know place
or manager freeze okay so this is again
Equifax and TransUnion are free I'm
going to show you how to set these up
and they're very easy once you set these
up you can unfreeze your credit in 60
seconds or actually I mean literally a
maybe 30 seconds okay so what happens if
the borrower slash prospect slash
podcast listener saying well ed and Tom
that's only two of my three credit
reports you know credit bureaus what
what you know what about the third well
you couldn't you can't absolutely put a
freeze on that third one which is the
Experian which you can pay for but what
you and I were talking about before the
podcast was you know you really need to
have at least two bureaus to get
anything done in the credit world for
mortgages you need at least two
typically you need three but you
typically need only no use typically a
lot you need at least two so by by
freezing to for free
then even if someone did you know access
the Experian then they wouldn't be able
to apply for any credit so I thought you
and I had was it seems very practical
you can freeze for free unfreeze for
free let's just let our audience know
about that we just think it makes a lot
of sense that's right this is the
easiest way to do it and this is how I
do it and and you know I'm gonna show
you how to do it okay you're on Equifax
you go to personal you just scroll down
a little bit you'll see place or manager
freeze what you'll do is you'll come
down here and if you have never started
or created an account with Equifax you
would click on get started with the
freeze okay and you'd fill out all your
information all right and what will
happen is they'll set you up you'll have
a username and password all right and
then you'll so whenever you are and then
you'll whenever you're ready to go in
and manage you are free e your Equifax
account to freeze or unfreeze the next
time you come to Equifax
you will see this you're gonna come to
the same spot you'll see manager freeze
right so you'll click on that so so
instead of start a freeze yeah there's a
little button extra that says manage a
priest did that that's right and so
basically yeah that's right so what'll
happen is you actually log into your
account and I did it already so here's
here's actually what my account looks
like it doesn't show any is there some
like personal dad I work in like I was
looking at that I was like is there
anything in here that's everything in
here has very been they basically
there's nothing in here that will show
anything for you but it will show my
name but what else what I'll do is so I
just logged in it just took me literally
10 seconds to do it and you scroll down
and I can say here are wait where did I
see this Oh manager freeze click on that
button alright it takes to this page you
say I want to temporarily left a
security freeze this is so if someone's
applying for a mortgage you know the
mortgage is gonna last let's just say 30
days you couldn't lift it for 30 days
you can live in for a day if you want we
recommend lifting your credit through
the entire mortgage process and the
reason why we do that is because only do
we pull credit up front but also as we
near the end of the loan we end up doing
a credit refresh that's right and and
even a loan officer will sometimes you
know forget about that but you know
we'll get a ping from the underwriters
saying hey please reach out to your
borrowers we tried doing a credit
refresh and the you know the bureau's
are frozen again please let them know
and that'll just delay things so
typically unfreeze for a good 30 days
and that should get us covered that's
right so again you because again you do
not want to you want this credit freeze
everyone who's listening we want this
credit freeze to be easy you do not want
the credit freeze to be a pain a pain in
your life where every single time you go
and buy it buy something and get
financing you can't do it okay if it
takes too long if it takes longer than
I don't know a couple minutes to do it's
probably not worth doing in some cases
you know right I mean if you're a man
you have to figure out okay either gonna
do this or not
and everything to do it efficiently you
again you don't want this to jam up your
life and have it be a pain so again
that's why we're showing you this okay
so speaking of easy this is equifax
right yep okay is that a fact so you
scroll down here you click on temporary
lift a security freeze for a specific
date range and that's what we what
happens here is that you actually you
actually select the dates okay that just
punch in the dates you just put in the
dates you know you could say it's
arranged so it doesn't have to be today
or a number of days it's a date range
yeah okay and that's how easy it is and
it just will be you do it hit submit and
then that's that what would happen and
where it goes okay yeah so let me show
you how it works over at TransUnion
because that's the number that's the
second okay
again the second and the second free
Bureau right and you can lock all right
so we're going to come to the main page
TransUnion calm you're gonna go to under
credit help and click on credit freeze
so even if you haven't started an
account you still go to credit freeze
yes that's right so if you want to
freeze my credit again you would
actually create an account you would go
okay so you if you wanted to freeze or
unfreeze the first thing that would
happen if you didn't have an account it
would prompt you to create an account
you would have a username and password
and something else I forgot to mention
is that that they each of these
transunion and equifax will give you a
pin the pin is only if you're not using
if you want to unfreeze your credit or
freeze it by the phone or or mail hmm if
you don't have access to the internet or
you don't want to get on the internet or
you know and go onto these websites the
pin is what you is most important got it
okay there's but that's so so people
that have flip phones will probably need
a pin
that's right okay so okay so anyway I
would create my account like I've
already done
I would go to unfreeze or let's just say
I go to member login and let me do that
once I do it logs me in and I that I've
just logged into at the my TransUnion
account and I can remove the fries or
temporarily lift it of course the same
thing I'm going to temporarily
temporarily lift and I put in the dates
so just like Equifax gives me the dates
and I would go through the I would
continue I'm going to the continue
continue button and I would then submit
it and it's that easy so I can do that
in literally 30 seconds
so I don't actually have my credit
frozen it's it's what it's a hard
decision but you know probably thinking
about it or even you know obviously
watching this well III think you just
convinced me I'm gonna go do it yes so
someone says a no-brainer
that's right so let's just say you're
gonna go buy an appliance real get a
mortgage and you know that your credits
frozen hey you just you keep your
credentials safe peace again you want to
keep you your credentials really safe to
unlock your credit because you don't
want to make it extra easy for a hacker
but yeah Tom I'm glad I mean yeah this
is this is in it this is what I I think
everyone will benefit from is just
seeing these two yeah
perfect okay what else have we we've
forgotten let's see you know I will say
some of my borrowers have been on the
phone for a couple hours trying to
unfreeze their credit because they don't
know yeah right no login or you know
they log they forgot their Pinard let's
just say they don't they don't use the
online version and I'm trying to call in
and unfreeze their credit don't do it if
you have a if you're just trying to if
you want it if you won't have to call in
or mail in down freeze don't freeze your
credit you'll just be you be so unhappy
you did all right and for those that are
like curious for Whistler difference
between this and some type of credit
monitoring system this is in no way a
monitoring system this is simply you
kind of doing it yourself reaching out
to
to the three bureaus saying I want it
frozen why does it matter to freeze
because when someone takes your identity
and applies for a Best Buy
big screen like eighty five inch plasma
you know curved TV whatever they're
called they're gonna need to pull your
credit so so that's why you're simply
doing this if you're very sensitive
about identity theft there are programs
out there that can help you monitor and
set up certain alerts but this is kind
of a do it yourselfer yeah that that's
right I mean something I know that the
big one is like life lock or something
like that but you know we're not making
a recommendation for any one of these
companies but that's you know one of
those services those services out there
so anyway again you know what we're
showing you here again just as a
disclaimer we're not experts in credit
this is how we personally I have
personally done it why we wanted to
share it with you guys so this I hope it
helps yeah awesome all right you ready
Co today that's right then I go home
okay that's called a day folks thank you
everyone
all right thanks guys hey guys thanks
for listening to the mortgage brother
show please let us know if you have any
questions you'd like us to answer on
this podcast you can email your
questions to tom at AZ mortgage brothers
calm or yours truly at eddie at AZ
mortgage brothers calm and be sure to
ask us for a free quote on your next
mortgage Tom and I will personally work
with you and help you through the whole
process
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