One of the perils of modern life is having your identity stolen. Last year 30% of Americans were victims of this crime. That’s up 9% from just two years earlier. Identity theft costs victims on average $10,000 or more.

To protect yourself from this crime, experts suggest freezing your credit. This is also known as a security freeze. When you freeze your credit, consumer credit agencies will not disclose your credit history to anyone. Without that credit file, lenders generally will not extend credit to you or anyone claiming to be you.

Should you want to allow access to your credit score, say for the purchase of a new car, you simply go online or call the company to have it lifted. The process does not affect your credit score and is provided free by the big three credit companies

You can freeze your credit report by calling each of the credit reporting agencies listed here. Each call takes less than 5 minutes.

Equifax 800. 349. 9960

Experian 888. 397. 3742

Trans Union 888. 909. 8872

An ounce of prevention could save you thousands of dollars and months of painstaking work to undo the damage to your credit.