Freezing your SSN can save you from serious financial damage.
Yours Social Security number is the key to many parts of your financial life, from opening a new bank account to applying for work to rent an apartment. If thieves get hands on your SSN, they can do serious damage to your finances, including taking debt in your name and Stealing a tax return.
Freezing or locking, your SSN makes it difficult to access computer criminals and use your personal information. By combining the lock of your SSN with a Credit freezeYou are protected from malicious activity.
The ban on electronic access to your SSN may feel inconvenient and extreme. But if you have experienced an identity theft or your personal identification information has been compromised in recent data violation – such as hackers of Change health care, Hertz or National public data – Locking your SSN can protect you from future damage.
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How to lock your social security number
There are two ways to block access to your social security number.
Call the Social Security Administration
You can contact the SAA on 1-800-772-1213 Between 8 and 7 pm local time, Monday to Friday. The waiting time is usually shorter in the morning and later in the week. Once you have confirmed your identity, the SAA will be waving its magic wand and blocking electronic access to your SSN.
Create an E-Certificate Account
You can also create a Very confirmation Online account to lock your SSN and use the service A self-lock function. The lock will last a year. But you will be warned 30 days before it expires, and you can extend the lock if you choose.
This resource is useful because many employers use e-confirmation, SAA service and US citizenship and immigration services to check employee eligibility.
When you lock your social security number, a company that wants to confirm your SSN will not be able to confirm your identity, preventing criminals from committing fraud. This option is also useful if you do not want to pick up the phone every time you want to unlock your SSN.
Lack of lock on your SSN
The main disadvantage of locking your SSN will sound very familiar to anyone who has A. Credit freeze on a place. When blocking access to your SSN records, you also limit access to it. This means that you will have to go through the quarrel whenever you need a new employer to confirm your eligibility to work in the US or you want to gain benefits from the government.
This back and forth may be worth the individuals of whom they have suffered Theft of employment identity and tax fraud. For additional protection against theft of tax identity, you can create PIN to protect the identity with the IRS to prevent someone else from filing a tax return with your SSN or individual taxpayer identification number.
What is the difference between your SSN lock and credit freeze?
Freezing the loan is different from the locking of the social security number, although both are free. One blocks access to your social security record online, while credit freezing limits access to your loan reports. To Conduct credit freezeYou will need to contact all three main credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) to prevent someone from creating new credit accounts on your behalf.
Will my SSN lock protect me from identity theft?
The answer here is quite unsatisfactory: maybe. Locking your social security number can prevent employment identity theft or prevent a criminal from gathering benefits from the government in your name. But that will not prevent all forms of ID card theft. As an additional caution, you should only share your social security number when it is absolutely necessary and never to an unstoppable call or text message.
It is also a good idea to follow your financial accounts and your credit reports on any unusual activity. If you want to have a service to do this for you, you can sign up for A. Credit monitoring service or an Protecting a theft of an ID card service. You can often enroll in credit monitoring to watch out for your credit reports. Protecting an ID card theft often involves credit monitoring, as well as dark web monitoring and warnings if your information is compromised in data breach. If your identity is compromised, protection for identity theft can help you restore it through white glove restoration services.
For additional security, you can freeze your credit with Experian, Transunion and Equifax to prevent identity thieves from opening new credit lines in your name, such as a mortgage or car loan. I did this recently and I found the process Surprisingly easy.