There is no question that going through a divorce can be an incredible strain on your emotions and your pocket book. A client recently asked about a friend in need who is going through a bitter divorce. He heard about “freezing” his credit through one of the credit agencies so that no one, specifically his ex-wife, can open anything in his name. And that of they tried, he would receive an alert.  Is there a service that does this and are there any downsides to doing it?  Also, is there any service, other than a credit report, where you can check every account that’s ever been opened under your name and social security number? 

Answer:
You can freeze your accounts. My clients that have had identity theft have done so and are alerted if someone else tries to open a new card.  No new accounts can be opened. You can do this through the credit agencies.  The only downside is if he wants to open a new account, it might be difficult to do so as well.

Running a recent credit report is the only way to find every account open in your name. If he doesn’t want to pay, he can run the free credit reports under annualcreditreport.com. There are 3 and he can space them out every few months or so or run them at the same time.  He won’t get his FICO score here.