Topic: Wanting to freeze LexisNexis & need advice

[tijuanasam]

I'm in the beginning of my repair journey & from perusing the threads, recognize the importance of freezing my lexisnexis report. I had an 'event' recently that's making me want to move forward on that, but have some questions for the seasoned professionals regarding how to do it.

Ok, so I'm currently living away from home at college (in campus housing)...and recently had a break-in at my apartment, where the police were called & made a burglary report. Some things were taken...and I'm legitimately concerned that some personally identifying info may have been stolen, although I'm not sure what all they may have taken. For the record, nothing has popped up yet.

So I'd like to freeze my lexis...for 2 general reasons. The first is that I may honestly have lost some things, and second...so that some of my upcoming disputes w/the CRA's may potentially be more successful.

So here's my issue. When I write to lexis to freeze my reports...if they want to know why, I don't really want to have to disclose my address while at college.

My questions to the board:

1. Am I going to have to justify to lexis 'why' I want my file frozen & potentially provide them w/proof (police report w/my college address)?

2. Are my future CRA's disputes likely to actually go better (am I likely to net more deletions) if I freeze my lexis file, or am I just chasing an internet rumor here?

[excelsior]

1.  No.
2.  The Freeze will have no impact on CRA deletions.

What the Freeze does is keep Lexis from selling your report to others who claim that you applied for credit.  This has limited value though because anyone can access the report by simply saying it is for "account review" purposes through a soft pull. 

[outtadebt]

1.  No.
2.  The Freeze will have no impact on CRA deletions.

What the Freeze does is keep Lexis from selling your report to others who claim that you applied for credit.  This has limited value though because anyone can access the report by simply saying it is for "account review" purposes through a soft pull.

But this can get the entity pulling credit for "account review" in trouble if they have no business with you.  A soft pull still releases some of your personal information.  A freeze is a freeze.  It stops all activity for anyone without permission.  And that is permission you must personally approve.  You can not freeze any creditor you currently have an account with, only those fishing for information.   I have had mine frozen for a long time and renew them as required.  Any pre-approved offer I may receive from someone I have never had business with before is usually met with a pretty strongly worded letter.  Sometimes it goes farther.  Never know.

You never see much activity for FCRA on this because a majority of the folks have no idea they can do this.

[kevinmanheim]

Any pre-approved offer I may receive from someone I have never had business with before is usually met with a pretty strongly worded letter.  Sometimes it goes farther.  Never know.

You never see much activity for FCRA on this because a majority of the folks have no idea they can do this.

This.

Sue. They have no defense. They pulled. They didn't have permission.

[outtadebt]

Believe me. I know you can sue.  Sometimes the properly worded letter with a sample complaint gets the same result with far less hassle.  On the other hand, some do not learn and just have to be taken to school.

Either way, I agree with you.  I would advise anyone to go after people pulling without permission.  That is the only way to stop the nonsense.  You kind of get tired of people just flagrantly violating the law and daring us to do something about it.

[fisthardcheese]

Believe me. I know you can sue.  Sometimes the properly worded letter with a sample complaint gets the same result with far less hassle.  On the other hand, some do not learn and just have to be taken to school.

Either way, I agree with you.  I would advise anyone to go after people pulling without permission.  That is the only way to stop the nonsense.  You kind of get tired of people just flagrantly violating the law and daring us to do something about it.

Those pre-approved offers are even stronger of a case when you have "opted-out" of all promotional inquiries per the FCRA.  Any and all PRM pulls (which WILL still occur regardless of your opt-out) at that point become very much a wilful violation which triggers both the statutory $1k and punitive damages allowed by FCRA.  I would say exactly how I know, but I'm contractually silenced on the specifics.

[tijuanasam]

But this can get the entity pulling credit for "account review" in trouble if they have no business with you.  A soft pull still releases some of your personal information.  A freeze is a freeze.  It stops all activity for anyone without permission.  And that is permission you must personally approve.  You can not freeze any creditor you currently have an account with, only those fishing for information.   I have had mine frozen for a long time and renew them as required.  Any pre-approved offer I may receive from someone I have never had business with before is usually met with a pretty strongly worded letter.  Sometimes it goes farther.  Never know.

You never see much activity for FCRA on this because a majority of the folks have no idea they can do this.

Thank you all for your input so far...but excelsior, outta, kevin, and any others...if you'd be willing, would you please clarify your posts for me so I know what I'm doing as I go forward.

My understanding was that if one were to freeze their Lexis file, it would make verifying certain tradelines on the big 3 reports potentially a more difficult task, and you'd likely net more CRA deletions if you froze your Lexis file. I think the strategy relies on the theory that the big 3 CRA's, when evaluating a dispute, often just verify 2-3 items associate w/the tradeline...and if the address and/or phone # associated w/the account matches up, it simply gets verified. The idea being that if you remove some of the potential verification options...such as phone #, and/or old addresses...via freezing your info w/one of the biggest aggregators (Lexis), you take away one of their major mechanisms to verify. This would obviously be done at the CRA level as well...but it's been suggested that you should really additionally freeze your Lexis file to remove a significant verification option for them.

The suggestions about pursuing those that potentially pull after you've frozen your Lexis is where I'm getting a little hung up. Do you mean those that have pulled my Lexis file, those that have pulled one of my big-3 files (presuming I froze them as well), or what were you meaning here? Also, are you referring to promotional (soft) pulls, or ?

And yeah...I realize that doing all of this will likely make the process of applying for credit in the future more burdensome. While I'm not (yet) a full-blown paranoid privacy nut, I'd kind of prefer to shrink my (semi) public profile. I'm willing to put up w/the hassles that go along w/this.

And a big ongoing thank you for your continuing help w/my education in all of this.

[excelsior]

My understanding was that if one were to freeze their Lexis file, it would make verifying certain tradelines on the big 3 reports potentially a more difficult task, and you'd likely net more CRA deletions if you froze your Lexis file. I think the strategy relies on the theory that the big 3 CRA's, when evaluating a dispute, often just verify 2-3 items associate w/the tradeline...and if the address and/or phone # associated w/the account matches up, it simply gets verified. The idea being that if you remove some of the potential verification options...such as phone #, and/or old addresses...via freezing your info w/one of the biggest aggregators (Lexis), you take away one of their major mechanisms to verify. This would obviously be done at the CRA level as well...but it's been suggested that you should really additionally freeze your Lexis file to remove a significant verification option for them.

The Freeze will not have any impact on a dispute verification because the furnisher already has PP (permissible purpose).  Think about it for a while.  If all a consumer had to do was freeze their reports, they could dispute all the bad stuff in their credit file and they would instantly get a clean report.  That's not happening.  What you are really looking for is how to get a TL deleted--and there are many ways to do that but a credit freeze isn't one of them.  I would suggest starting threads for each TL because each TL may require a different approach.  Also, Lexis is not as prolific as the big 3 (EX, EQ, TU) when it comes to credit inquiries.  The majority of credit card issuers use EX for determinations on credit.  Mortgage lenders use all 3, and Auto lenders usually go after all 3 (though they could use fewer).  In my experience, Lexis is an aggregator that then feeds into other metadata fusion sites.  I would forget about the notion of privacy.  These companies openly brag about how they have no obligation to privacy concerns. 

The suggestions about pursuing those that potentially pull after you've frozen your Lexis is where I'm getting a little hung up. Do you mean those that have pulled my Lexis file, those that have pulled one of my big-3 files (presuming I froze them as well), or what were you meaning here? Also, are you referring to promotional (soft) pulls, or ?

Say I freeze Lexis and opt out of Lexis PRM's.  Then Acme credit pulls my Lexis report for a promotional pull for financing.  If Lexis provides the report, Lexis violated the FCRA.  That is an actionable claim.  The same goes for the big 3. 

And yeah...I realize that doing all of this will likely make the process of applying for credit in the future more burdensome. While I'm not (yet) a full-blown paranoid privacy nut, I'd kind of prefer to shrink my (semi) public profile. I'm willing to put up w/the hassles that go along w/this.

I would surrender any notion of privacy.  The amount of data being collected is unfathomable to the average consumer and these companies flat out deny that any FCRA liability exists.  If you want to find out just how crazy these companies are, go pull your Accurint "collect and locate" report (which is a separate offering of Lexis).  And you can't freeze or opt out of it.

[BingoFuel]

How does one pull an Accurint report without an account?

The Freeze will not have any impact on a dispute verification because the furnisher already has PP (permissible purpose).  Think about it for a while.  If all a consumer had to do was freeze their reports, they could dispute all the bad stuff in their credit file and they would instantly get a clean report.  That's not happening.  What you are really looking for is how to get a TL deleted--and there are many ways to do that but a credit freeze isn't one of them.  I would suggest starting threads for each TL because each TL may require a different approach.  Also, Lexis is not as prolific as the big 3 (EX, EQ, TU) when it comes to credit inquiries.  The majority of credit card issuers use EX for determinations on credit.  Mortgage lenders use all 3, and Auto lenders usually go after all 3 (though they could use fewer).  In my experience, Lexis is an aggregator that then feeds into other metadata fusion sites.  I would forget about the notion of privacy.  These companies openly brag about how they have no obligation to privacy concerns. 
Say I freeze Lexis and opt out of Lexis PRM's.  Then Acme credit pulls my Lexis report for a promotional pull for financing.  If Lexis provides the report, Lexis violated the FCRA.  That is an actionable claim.  The same goes for the big 3.  I would surrender any notion of privacy.  The amount of data being collected is unfathomable to the average consumer and these companies flat out deny that any FCRA liability exists.  If you want to find out just how crazy these companies are, go pull your Accurint "collect and locate" report (which is a separate offering of Lexis).  And you can't freeze or opt out of it.