To place a security freeze on your credit report, you must write to each credit reporting agency separately, using only CERTIFIED or OVERNIGHT MAIL and the addresses below. Within 5 days after they receive your request, they will send you your PIN code, and instructions on how to lift the freeze. Placing the security freeze is FREE; the bureaus can charge you up to $5 each when you wish to thaw it, but they cannot charge you to place the freeze. New Jersey is the first state in the nation to make placing the freeze free, and the bureaus may suggest you need to pay a fee for the service. Don’t believe them; they will learn the New Jersey law soon enough.

Equifax:

Write to:
Equifax Security Freeze
PO BOX 105788
Atlanta GA 30348

In your letter, include: Your full name, your current and previous mailing address, social security number, and date of birth.

Transunion:

Write to:
Transunion Security Freeze
Post Office Box 6790
Fullerton, California, 92834-6790.

In your letter, include: your name, address, and social security number.

Experian:

Write to:
Experian Security Freeze
PO Box 9554
Allen, Texas 75013

In your letter, include: your full name including middle initial; your current address; previous addresses for the past five years; social security number, birthdate, and two proofs of residence, such as a copy of your driver’s license, utility bill, or insurance statement.

Innovis:

Innovis is an upstart credit reporting agency that to date only does pre-screening (the process that creates all those unsolicited credit card offers in your mailbox, and which you can end by calling 1-888-5-opt-out). Innovis is actively collecting data on consumers, however, so that at some point in the next year or two it can start selling full credit reports. Only at that point could an identity thief use Innovis to open a new account in your name. However, there’s no reason not to freeze your Innovis file now. That way, when they start selling credit reports, you will be protected.

Write To:
Innovis Consumer Assistance
POBOX 1358
Columbus, OH 43216-1358

In your letter, include: your full name; your current address; your social security number, and one proof of residence, such as a copy of your driver’s license, utility bill, or insurance statement.