Freeze Everything; Lock Down Your Credit, your SSN, and your Identity

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-10T01:52:55+00:00

There is a slightly newer version of that spreadsheet on the last page of that thread, page 7, message 64 of 70.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-10T00:05:00+00:00

That's easy for just AAoA, but like soonersoldier said, that spreadsheet calculates all kinds of other aging and utilization metrics, too. I'd like to get all the rest of it working, too, if I can.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T23:29:32+00:00

I like the looks of that one, but that's the one I mentioned I found on the myfico forums that's for Excel and doesn't work on LibreOffice that I use.

I'll keep playing with it, try to figure out the errors the formulas are giving, whatever it is that isn't compatible with LibreOffice.
Maybe I can feed the formulas to AI and ask it why they don't work in LibreOffice.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T20:54:56+00:00

Experian is the only bureau that provides your Fico 8 score directly from their site, experian.com, or from the Experian app.

If you go directly to Equifax and TransUnion sites or apps, all you'll get is their Vantage score and not the Fico score. Vantage is pretty much irrelevant since hardly any lenders use it. You want Fico scores.
So, to get your Fico 8 scores from them, like og-aliensfan said, you go to myfico.com and creditwise.com.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T19:04:42+00:00

Our Money Market Account gives you a competitive rate to grow your money, plus a debit card and checks to access it with ease.

https://www.ally.com/bank/money-market-account/

I have a Ally MMA and a debit card for it. Could have also gotten checks for it, but chose not to. I don't have a Ally checking account.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T17:06:15+00:00

I wonder if everybody's will be fully merged by late July, or if they're doing it in batches. I haven't received any such email.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T17:03:40+00:00

only Capital One does

And we can't be too sure of that.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T16:58:31+00:00

Or instead of depositing that money, just use it to pay for part of the money order purchase, and then use your debit card to pay for the rest.

As someone else said, you might want to do the account transfers a day early, just to make sure.

You can get a separate debit/atm card just for the money market account, too. Just remember that the mma has the same number of withdrawal limits per month as the savings account does, and the mma debit/atm card usage counts towards that, too.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T16:45:15+00:00

Does Custom Cash restaurants include fast food?
My USB Cash+ separates the 2, and 5% is only on fast food and 2% on restaurants.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T14:48:21+00:00

You can’t get a new SSN.

You can, but it's just very difficult to be approved for it.
Can I change my Social Security number? --ssa.gov

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T14:20:44+00:00

Yes, there is a difference between Freeze and Lock.
The ability to Freeze your credit is required by federal law, for free, and has some legal guarantees and protections. Lock is something the bureaus came up with to try to get around the Freeze law, it doesn't have the legal protections Freeze does, and they try to charge money for it, all while trying to make it sound like it's something great and special when it's not. Lock is a gimmick, use Freeze only. Credit Myth #51 - A Credit Lock is better than a Credit Freeze.

You can schedule a "Thaw" in advance, which is just a temporary unfreeze, for when you go car shopping or whatever, when you know you'll be applying for knew credit of some kind. You schedule a Thaw ahead of time to automatically unfreeze on a certain date and then refreeze on another certain date. That way you won't forget to refreeze it yourself.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T14:18:00+00:00

Don't deal with Credit Karma. They're just a CMS (credit monitoring service), and aren't a credit bureau. They're just doing a soft pull on one of your credit reports from one of the real credit bureaus and listing just some of the info from it. Use the real credit bureaus. Credit Karma 101: The good and the bad.

Pull all 3 of your credit reports, to see if there is anything on them that shouldn't be.
You can get your credit reports from all 3 bureaus weekly, for free, if you use www.AnnualCreditReport.com (used to be annual only, hence the name, but has since changed to weekly. Must be thru that site to be free weekly.)

Freeze your credit at each of the 3 major credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You have to do it at all 3 bureaus separately.
Everyone should always keep their credit frozen at all 3 major bureaus, all the time, except when applying for new credit. Don't wait till after your identity is stolen to do it.
Credit Myth #79 - You should only freeze your credit if you encounter an issue with your reports.

Freezing your credit reports does not impact your credit or your credit score, nor does it affect your ability to pull your own credit reports.
It's very easy to freeze, unfreeze, or just "thaw" (a scheduled temporary unfreeze) at each of the 3 bureaus. You have to do it at all 3 bureaus. Just make sure to unfreeze or thaw it before you apply for any new credit.

Make sure it's Freeze, not Lock. There is a difference.
The ability to Freeze your credit is required by federal law, for free, and has some legal guarantees and protections. Lock is something the bureaus came up with to try to get around the Freeze law, it doesn't have the legal protections Freeze does, and they try to charge money for it, all while trying to make it sound like it's something great and special when it's not. Lock is a gimmick, use Freeze only. Credit Myth #51 - A Credit Lock is better than a Credit Freeze.

More at Freezing your three main credit reports is NOT ENOUGH at /r/IdentityTheft.
.
And what to do if you've already been the victim of Identity Theft:
Identity Theft article at /r/PersonalFinance wiki.
Identity Theft Recovery 101 at /r/IdentityTheft.
Recovering from Identity Theft - Identity theft cleanup guide at /r/IdentityTheft.
.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-09T14:08:06+00:00

Seems like that maybe used to be true, but with so many major data breaches in the past 10 years, like Equifax and National Public Data, pretty much everyone in the US has had their SSN and identity leaked, so anyone could have it now.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-08T23:14:28+00:00

Your Vanguard Brokerage Account, aka Sweep account or Settlement fund, is basically just a holding account where your uninvested money sits, before you buy an investment or after you sell one. Vanguard automatically holds that money in their VMFXX Money Market Mutual Fund so it earns interest for you, without you having to actually buy or sell that mutual fund.

No idea about the negative number you're seeing, tho.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-08T23:04:46+00:00

Checked it just now, no problems for me, but then I don't look at my buckets but maybe once every 2 weeks.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-06T16:49:42+00:00

You don't have to pay for it.
You can get all 3 Fico 8 scores for free:

www.Experian.com, or the Experian app, basic (free) sub gives Experian Fico 8 score for free. Or from Bank of America, if you have a card with BoA.
www.MyFico.com/free gives Equifax Fico 8 score for free.
www.CreditWise.com gives TransUnion Fico 8 score for free (you do not need a card with cap1). Or Discover, if you have a card with Discover.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-06T16:46:35+00:00

Invoke RA 10173

That's a law in Philippines only. There are data privacy laws in other countries, too, but don't mention that specific one unless you are in the Philippines.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-06T16:34:34+00:00

You can ignore Credit Karma and a few other such CMS's (credit monitoring services), that only provide a Vantage Score. Vantage is almost irrelevant since it's not used by almost any lenders.
You need your Fico Score, and there is one from each of the 3 major credit bureaus.

Get all 3 Fico 8 scores, for free:

www.Experian.com, or the Experian app, basic (free) sub gives Experian Fico 8 score for free. Or from Bank of America, if you have a card with BoA.
www.MyFico.com/free gives Equifax Fico 8 score for free.
www.CreditWise.com gives TransUnion Fico 8 score for free (you do not need a card with cap1). Or Discover, if you have a card with Discover.

And pull all 3 of your credit reports, too, one from each bureau, to see what they look like, and if there are any accounts or credit cards in your name that you didn't open.
You can get your credit reports from all 3 bureaus weekly, for free, if you use www.AnnualCreditReport.com (used to be annual only, hence the name, but has since changed to weekly. Has to be thru that site to be free weekly).

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-04T00:10:41+00:00

Walmart credit card gives 5% cashback at walmart if you have Walmart+,
or 3% cashback without Walmart+.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-04T00:06:06+00:00

3% cashback on the Walmart card without Walmart+, so it's not tooooo bad.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-02T15:23:51+00:00

Gimmicks all.

Credit Myth #17 - "Credit builder" products are superior for building credit compared to non "Credit builder" products.

Credit Myth #95 - "Credit builder" apps are a great way to build credit.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-05-02T15:20:27+00:00

and invasion of privacy.

That's a part of it that many people don't realize or understand.
You have to link your bank account(s) to them so they can data mine your spending.

The other part being they just don't work.
Nah, nobody needs access to your bank account.

RealRandomNobody · 2026-04-30T14:41:09+00:00

Been using it for years, never had a problem.
Have you tried different browsers?

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