Best way to protect credit. Fraud alert? Lock? Other?

[Paul Witte]

I'm a new investor, currently setting up my first deal.  I appreciate all of you who donate so much of your time and expertise to help people like me.  Ok, on to the question:

Thankfully I've never had my identity stolen, but it seems to be very common and a huge headache--especially if you depend on your credit integrity frequently to fund deals!  I had a lock on my credit file in the past but found it to be very difficult to manage.  I know there are a number of other options out there, but curious about your practices?  What is the best way to balance accessibility of your credit with protection?  They seem to stand in opposition to one another.  Better protection is a bigger headache and slows processing down.  No protection makes for easy access, but having your identity stolen and credit compromised seems like even more trouble.  What is your practice?  

[Bjorn Ahlblad]

@Paul WitteCredit and identity thieves generally get credentials by hacking a department store, bank, CU. Sometimes through a gas pump etc. I have had ID theft and so has my wife. You can reduce it by never opening attachments that don't look right, never using a link to go to a bank account don't respond to weird txts, don't use a debit card, don't have any store cards, 2 step ID helps a lot. CC are great because they are 'insured' by the bank.

One time someone tried to buy a 28,000.00 dollar ring using my card number it was under my limit on that card. But the bank txt'd me anyway.

Credit issuers, stores, banks etc want the public to believe that individuals are the source of the problem, and sometimes we are. Just as often it is them.

[Bill Hampton]

Go online and set up credit freezes with Equifax, Transunion and Experian. When you need a lender to access to your credit file ask them which company they use. Then go online and unfreeze that credit file only for a short period time, like a week. 

Good luck.