How Do I Unfreeze My Credit with Equifax?
To unfreeze your credit, you will need to contact the same credit reporting agency, which in this case is Equifax, to do it. These helpful tips can assist you.
Equifax is one of the biggest consumer credit reporting companies in the world. They have over 800 million individual customers and over 88 million businesses around the world.
Freezing your credit reports is one of the most powerful ways to protect the data included in your credit reports. You can freeze your credit if you think your account has been compromised or if you do not want certain parties to see your credit reports. Credit freezes are mandated by federal law and are free.
However, at some point you may need a line of credit or decide to take on a loan which means that you will have to unfreeze your credit.
To unfreeze your credit, you will need to contact the same credit reporting agency, which in this case is Equifax, to do it. You will have to ask the creditor the credit reference agency they will be using to know which to unfreeze.
Equifax affords its customers the ability to unfreeze their credit temporarily for a particular creditor or for a specified period of time, ranging from a day to a year. You can also permanently unfreeze your credit reports with Equifax though it is ill advised.
A PIN is required if you freeze or unfreeze your credit through mail or phone. To unfreeze your credit with Equifax, you can contact them using one of the following avenues:
Snail mail has lost its allure and for good reason. It is slow and has great risk for loss. However, sending mail is still one of the surest ways to send a message as you are assured that it will be read if received.
You can send Equifax a letter asking them to lift the freeze on your credit reports. You should address the letter to Equifax's Security Freeze department when sending the letter to their corporate headquarters.
You can find the offices' address on the Equifax website.
Phone
Calling Equifax directly is an amazing option if you want them to unfreeze your credit reports. A phone call is swift and easy to get your message across.
When you freeze your credit on Equifax you will be asked to input a 10-digit PIN. You will be asked to input the same PIN when unfreezing the account by the voice prompts so it is a good idea to have it ready. The PIN is, however, no longer necessary for online security freeze transactions but it will be required for offline transactions.
When you choose to freeze your credit, it can be a temporary lift or a permanent one. You will also be asked the amount of time you want to lift the freeze if it's a temporary one.
You can find all relevant Equifax phone numbers on GetHuman.
Live Chat
Another great option to get Equifax to unfreeze your credit reports is to contact them through their live chat facility. A live chat is fast because it offers the opportunity for instant messaging.
You will only have to wait for about 3 minutes after initiating a chat for a customer service representative to get on the other end of the chat. The chat is available from Monday through to Friday from 10am to 8pm EST.
You can find the link to the live chat on GetHuman.
Equifax's customer service email is another avenue you can use to request them to unfreeze your credit report. The email support line is open all day, every day.
You should expect a reply from the email address in less than 3 hours. You can retrieve the Equifax customer service email address from GetHuman.
Help Desk
Equifax does have an online help desk through which you can ask for unfreezing of your credit. It takes about 2 hours for issues presented through the Equifax help desk to be fixed which is quite fast. You can find the help desk's address on GetHuman.
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