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Home > Guides > Credit freezes
Yes. Each of the three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) accepts a freeze request by mail: send your full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and copies of a government ID and proof of address. Mail is the fallback when you have lost your online PIN or cannot verify your identity online, and freezes are free under federal law.
Online is faster when it works, but the online flow breaks in exactly the situations where you need a freeze most. Lost your PIN from a previous freeze and cannot pass the identity quiz to recover it? The bureau's answer is a mailed request. Locked out after too many failed verification attempts? Mailed request. Helping an elderly parent or a minor child, where online identity verification fails on thin files? Mailed request with the supporting documents. Mail is slower, but it never asks you to answer which of four addresses you lived at in 2009.
Each bureau publishes its own security-freeze mailing address on its website: use the one listed there, since processing centers move. The contents are the same everywhere, and you must send a separate packet to all three bureaus. One freeze does not cover the others.
| Include | Why |
|---|---|
| Full name, current address, date of birth | Identifies your file |
| Social Security number | Matches you to the right record (never email this; mail is the safer channel) |
| Copy of government-issued ID | Driver's license or passport proves you are you |
| Proof of address | Utility bill or bank statement ties you to the address on file |
| Prior PIN, if unfreezing | Needed to lift or remove an existing freeze |
| Option | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Security freeze | Blocks new creditors from pulling your file until you lift it; the strongest protection | Free under federal law |
| Credit lock | Similar effect through the bureau's app or product, often with faster toggling | Sometimes bundled into paid products |
| Fraud alert | Tells creditors to take extra steps verifying identity; lasts one year (seven for identity-theft victims) | Free; place it with one bureau and it notifies the others |
Two facts people get wrong: a freeze does not affect your credit score at all, and your existing creditors can still see your file. It only stops new accounts from being opened in your name.
Store each bureau's PIN somewhere you will actually find it: a password manager, not a sticky note, and not "in my email somewhere." You will need the PIN every time you apply for credit, rent an apartment, or do anything requiring a pull, and lifting a freeze takes planning since each bureau lifts separately. If you lose a PIN, you are back to the mailed request, which is the slow loop this whole article is about. In Canada, the process runs through Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada, which publish their own mail-in instructions and forms.
Not the complete packet. LetterAgent can print and mail the request letter itself, but bureaus require copies of your ID and proof of address enclosed, and LetterAgent mails letters only, no inserts. There is also a privacy angle: the letter contains your Social Security number, so think about who handles it at each step. For a freeze request, assemble the packet yourself and mail it with tracking.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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