Living Abroad - Credit Reporting, Alerting, and Freezing

Living abroad I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to my financial accounts and credit rating back in the States.  It would really suck if I were the victim of fraud and didn't even know it.  Even worse would be dealing with identity theft while living overseas.  Below I compiled some helpful links and tips for keeping a close eye on your USA credit situation.

NOTE: Many of these sites are only accessible from within the US, so I recommend a service called Getflix that offers VPN connections.  This very affordable service allows you to access these sites while abroad.

Apply for Fraud Alerts
Equifax - https://www.alerts.equifax.com

Experian - https://www.experian.com/fraudalert
Click on the "Add An Initial Security Alert."

TransUnion - http://www.transunion.com/fraud

Innovis - https://www.innovis.com/fraudActiveDutyAlerts/index
This is a fourth, smaller bureau. Fraud alerts with Innovis do not get shared to or from the three other major credit bureaus.  If you want an alert placed with Innovis, you need to do it separately from the other three bureaus.

Place / Lift a Security Freeze with Each Credit Bureau
Equifax - https://www.freeze.equifax.com

Experian - https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html

TransUnion - http://www.transunion.com/securityfreeze

Innovis (smaller, new bureau) - https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze

Get Free Credit Reports
Annualcreditreport.com - This is the US government's official portal website for requesting free annual credit reports.  I recommend starting here.

Credit.com offers a free credit score based on your Experian report.

Credit Karma (creditkarma.com) provides free weekly access to your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports and updated credit scores based on those credit reports.  They also provide free daily credit monitoring of your TransUnion credit report.

Credit Sesame (creditsesame.com) offers a free credit score based on your Experian report and free credit monitoring of your Experian report.  They will also send you daily alerts via text, email, or through their app, of any changes to your Experian credit report.

FreeCreditReport.com offers a free Experian credit report.

Opt Out
Optoutprescreen.com is the official website sponsored by the four national credit bureaus where by law you can opt-out of receiving these offers for five years or permanently.

Recovering from Identity Theft
Identitytheft.gov - This is the US government’s official website that will walk you through clear checklists of actions you can take to recover from identity theft.