 TITLE: Why You Should Check Your Credit Report Even If Your Credit Is Frozen CONTENT: Reasons for Freezing Your Credit\n--------------------------------\nAlso known as a security freeze, a credit freeze keeps lenders, creditors, businesses and others from gaining access to your credit report. If someone needs to check your credit—for instance, if you're buying a car and want to get an auto loan—you must personally lift the credit freeze and give permission for the creditor to see your credit report. Because companies need to see your credit report to extend credit, a credit freeze helps to keep thieves from opening fraudulent accounts in your name without your knowing about it.\nPeople may place a credit freeze on their report for many reasons. Some do it after having suffered fraud or identity theft. Some do it to gain peace of mind after being notified that data they shared with a business, such as credit card information or Social Security numbers, has been breached in a hacking attack. Others do it as a pre-emptive measure to protect themselves or their children. (Parents can freeze the credit report of a child under age 16; if the child doesn't have a credit report, credit bureaus can create one for the child and then freeze it.) END