SUMMARY
- Check your credit reports for free at AnnualCreditReport.com and consider a free credit freeze with all three bureaus.
- Update passwords on your most important accounts, use a password manager, and turn on two-factor authentication.
- Set up fraud alerts and use the security tools your accounts already offer, many at no cost.
- Review your digital footprint, remove details scammers can exploit, and build safer habits like avoiding public Wi-Fi for sensitive logins.
Nobody plans for the day they find an account they never opened. It usually starts small: a login code you didn’t ask for, a charge you don’t recognize. Suddenly something you’ve spent years building feels shaky.
The good news is you can get ahead of it in 30 minutes a week.
To protect your identity, check your credit reports, freeze your credit, use strong and unique passwords with two-factor authentication, set up account alerts, and be mindful of what you share online. This month’s Freedom 30 plan walks you through each step, one week at a time.
What is The Freedom 30 Program?
The Freedom 30 Program is a year-long financial literacy program developed with our friends at Balance. The idea is simple: spend 30 minutes each week improving your financial life, all year long.
Each month has a theme. Each week has one small, manageable project. No overhauls, nothing to overwhelm you – just steady progress, the kind that sticks.
Jumped into The Freedom 30 late? No problem. Add a catch-up session whenever it works for you – this program moves at your pace, not the calendar’s. Here’s last month’s blog on how to review your insurance and benefits to help you catch up.
This month’s theme: protecting your identity and your information.
Week 1: Check your credit reports and consider freezing your credit.
You can pull a free credit report from each of the three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) at AnnualCreditReport.com. Read each one slowly. You’re looking for accounts you don’t recognize, addresses you’ve never lived at, and inquiries you didn’t authorize.
Then consider a credit freeze.
What is a credit freeze? A credit freeze locks your credit file so no one can open a new account in your name without your permission. It’s free, it doesn’t affect your credit score, and you can lift it whenever you’re ready to apply for a loan, a card, or a mortgage. You’ll need to freeze your file with each of the three bureaus separately.
Takeaway: Checking your reports and freezing your credit are free, and they’re two of the strongest steps you can take against identity theft.
Next Week: We live online, so we’ll check the locks on every account that matters.
Week 2: How to update your passwords and turn on two-factor authentication.
We know. Changing passwords is a pain, and the one you’ve used since college is so easy to remember. But that’s exactly why it’s risky. If one site is breached, thieves try that same password everywhere else.
This week, update the passwords on your most important accounts first: banking, email, and shopping. Your email comes first for a reason: if someone controls your inbox, they can reset your other passwords.
Work smarter, not harder. A password manager creates and stores a strong, unique password for every account, so you only have to remember one. Many phones and browsers have one built in, and dedicated apps do, too.
Then turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever it’s offered. 2FA asks for a second proof of identity, usually a code sent to your phone or generated by an app, on top of your password. Even if a thief gets your password, 2FA helps prevent them from accessing your account.
Takeaway: A few minutes of effort now can save you hours of stress recovering from a hacked account.
Next Week: We’ll make sure you’re using every security tool you already have.
Week 3: How to set up fraud alerts and use your accounts’ security features.
Three tools protect you here, and they do different jobs, so let’s separate them.
- Account alerts come from your bank, credit union, or card issuer. You can set them to text or email you about transactions, large purchases, or logins from a new device. To set up login, balance, transaction, and transfer alerts for your FIG Credit Union accounts, log in to our digital banking platform. They’re a quick way to catch something unusual.
- Card controls let you act the moment something feels off. Log in to our digital banking platform to freeze or unfreeze your credit and debit cards, set spending limits, manage your alerts, change your PIN, and add travel notices. Changes usually take effect right away, subject to system availability. It’s all built in, so you don’t need a separate tool to find or download.
- A fraud alert is placed with the credit bureaus. It asks lenders to take extra steps to verify your identity before opening new credit. It’s free, and you only need to contact one bureau, which notifies the other two.
What’s the difference between a fraud alert and a credit freeze?
A freeze blocks access to your credit file. A fraud alert lets lenders in, but tells them to double-check it’s really you. Many people use both.
Is freezing a card the same as freezing your credit?
No. Freezing a card pauses that one card, and you can unfreeze it right away in digital banking, subject to system availability. A credit freeze blocks new accounts from being opened in your name. Lost your wallet at lunch? Freeze the card. Worried about someone opening new credit? Freeze your credit.
If you have time left, look through each account’s security settings. Many include account monitoring, identity theft protection, or credit score monitoring tools at no extra cost, especially on financial accounts.
Takeaway: A few minutes of setup means problems get flagged early, when they’re easiest to fix.
Next Week: We’ll tackle your personal information, online and offline.
Week 4: How to clean up your digital footprint.
Your digital footprint is everything about you that can be found online: social media posts, old accounts, tagged photos, public records. It’s time to tidy it.
Start with your social media. Look for personal details a scammer could use. Posting your mother’s maiden name in a family tribute or sharing a photo of your first car can quietly hand over the answers to common account recovery questions.
A few more habits for a safer digital life:
- Shop only on secure websites (look for “https” in the address bar)
- Skip sensitive logins, like banking, on public Wi-Fi
- Use a VPN when you have to use public Wi-Fi
- Delete old accounts you no longer use
Takeaway: Good digital hygiene is mostly small habits, and they’re just as easy to build as the careless ones.
Final thoughts.
Thirty minutes a week for four weeks, and your identity is better protected than most people’s. That’s not a small thing.
We’re Member-owned, so your security matters to us as much as it does to you. That’s why you can freeze a card, set limits, or change your PIN yourself anytime, right in your banking app. For more ways to keep your information safer, visit the Security Center on our website. If something ever looks off, you’re not on your own; call us at 800.877.2345 or contact us via a secure message in our digital banking platform. For credit card security concerns, call 888.241.2440 (U.S.) or 909.941.1398 (outside the U.S.). Stay aware. Stay cautious. Stay in control.
This article was developed in partnership with Balance, a financial education provider. Balance does not provide financial products through the Credit Union, and no compensation is received based on Member participation.
Members should contact the Credit Union for guidance regarding their individual situation.
This article is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended as financial, legal, or tax advice. FIG Credit Union does not provide legal or tax advice. Information is general in nature and may not apply to your individual circumstances. Consider consulting an appropriate financial, legal, or tax professional regarding your specific situation.
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