China's breach of Equifax has caused many Americans to worry about the safety of their credit reports. Creditcards.com Industry Analyst Ted Rossman says freezing your report is the best way to protect it. Your credit report is your key to buying a car, getting a credit card or owning a home. Rossman says that's why you should freeze your credit report. "Freezing your credit is definitely a good approach to preventing identity theft. Nobody is out there opening fake accounts in your name." Rossman says it's not complicated to do. "The whole thing is very easy. Typically you can free and unfreeze your report in all three bureaus in about 10 minutes." He reminds you to make sure you UN-freeze your report when you're applying for a loan or credit card. Just go to annualcredit report.com and follow the instructions. But be careful!
"It's so good that it blocks YOU out from opening new credit. So when you want to legitimately want to apply for a new credit card or a car loan or a mortgage or something like that, you have to remember to lift the freeze!"