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After learning about Equifax's failure to keep sensitive financial data of over 100 million Americans secret, I am considering a security freeze on my credit record. I found the relevant pages of the three main credit reporting agencies websites, but they are only suitable for US residents. I can find no information on their websites about freezing credit records from overseas. Additionally, the forms all contain "State" and "ZIP Code" as mandatory fields, and do not permit entering a foreign country as part of the address.

Can US citizens living overseas place a security freeze on their credit records back in America, and if so, how do we do that please?

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  • You can check to see whether you've been 'potentially' impacted by an Equifax tool using just your last name and the last six digits of your social security number. You can also enroll in its monitoring service, free for a year it says, and that after a year, it won't be automatically renewed or a fee charged.
    – Giorgio
    Commented Sep 14, 2017 at 19:48
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    Thanks for providing that link, but when I tried to go to the tool, it informed me that Amazon Cloudfront (the internet host of the tool) could not serve request to my county (Switzerland). It seems Equifax is determined not to help us.
    – CHsurfer
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 6:27
  • I agree with the previous comment. Having U.S. addresses for your Credit Cards is not sufficient do it via online. When you get refused (online), you are told that you need to send a copy of your government ID (ssn) - ok, no problem - but you need UTILITY bills, and they must be recent. So at this point, not only can I NOT freeze my credit, I can't get my free credit reports either. I will call this afternoon but don't hold out much hope.
    – Guest User
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 8:56
  • If you are traveling but US resident the form will not send if operating off non US wifi. My visiting daughter is going through this right now . This is ABSURD
    – Linda Casanova
    Commented Sep 4 at 22:13

3 Answers 3

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There is no validation that you actually live at the address, so use the address of your parents, friends, colleagues etc and ask them to forward any correspondence.

There are also tons of commercial providers that provide this as a service, just search for "us address rental" or equivalent.

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    It's still pretty piss poor from Equifax to keep information for people living outside the US, but not bother to allow the website to handle them. But what can we expect?
    – Aganju
    Commented Sep 11, 2017 at 3:00
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I was also rejected by the credit agencies in not only freezing my credit but just to request the annual report. As an expat living abroad, I can not provide the requested documents proving US residency.

It can not be that a US citizen with US financial accounts and credit history does not have the same right to protect their data and identity as someone living in the US. I have written in the last couple of days two journalists and contacted Senate representatives. The Massechusetts Senator is active in working on credit agency legislation now and you should contact your state Senator as well. Here is the address: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

The issue needs to be raised by many to change legislation around credit agencies!

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    It would be best if you summarized your response into something like, "As far as I can tell, you can't." Otherwise this appears to be commentary instead of actually an answer with useful personal experience.
    – ouflak ♦
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 19:02
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It does matter if you live at the address. I live abroad and tried this with my usual American address I use for things and was rejected by equifac and trans union. "Not enough info to verify." I could send further detail, they said, like utility bill at that address etc. So I can't freeze my credit report,

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