Identity, credit and free government tools

Check your credit reports

You can get free credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion every week through the official site. Look for accounts, addresses or inquiries you don't recognize.

• AnnualCreditReport.com

Freeze your credit

A freeze stops new credit being opened in your name, and federal law makes it free. Freeze at all three bureaus, and lift it temporarily when you apply for credit. Parents can also freeze a child's credit.

• Equifax freeze
• Experian freeze
• TransUnion freeze

Stop pre-approved credit offers

Pre-screened offers in the mail can be stolen and used. Opting out online lasts five years; a signed form makes it permanent.

• OptOutPrescreen.com (official)

Get an IRS Identity Protection PIN

An IP PIN is a six-digit number that stops someone else filing a tax return with your Social Security number. Any taxpayer who can verify their identity can get one. A new PIN is issued each year. Once you have one, every return filed under your number needs that year's PIN, so give it to your tax preparer.

• IRS: Get an Identity Protection PIN

Create your my Social Security account

Opening your own account first stops someone else opening one in your name and redirecting benefits. If you believe your information is compromised, Social Security can block electronic access to your record.

• my Social Security (ssa.gov/myaccount)

Lock your SSN for employment checks

E-Verify Self Lock stops employers using E-Verify from confirming your Social Security number for a new job unless you unlock it. A credit freeze doesn't cover this.

• myE-Verify Self Lock

See your mail before it arrives

USPS Informed Delivery emails you a preview of letter mail each day. It helps you spot missing checks, cards or tax forms, and you also find out if someone else has signed up at your address.

• USPS Informed Delivery

Register on the Do Not Call list

Registration is free and doesn't expire. It stops most legitimate telemarketing. Political calls, charities, surveys, debt collectors and companies you already do business with are exempt, so an unexpected sales call afterwards deserves extra suspicion. Report them to the same site.

• DoNotCall.gov

Search unclaimed property

Dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, deposits, refunds and insurance proceeds are turned over to the state.

• Search every state you have lived or worked in, under every name you have used.
• Claiming is free. Be wary of anyone who charges to find it for you.

• MissingMoney.com (multi-state search)
• NAUPA: find your state's official program

Look for lost life insurance and pensions

Two free official tools help find benefits that were never claimed.

• The NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator asks participating insurers to check for policies on a deceased family member.
• PBGC's search covers pensions from defined benefit plans that ended.

• NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator
• PBGC unclaimed pension search

Follow the FTC recovery plan

IdentityTheft.gov builds a personal recovery plan, produces an identity theft report, and pre-fills letters to creditors and credit bureaus.

• IdentityTheft.gov