What Shows Up On a Locked Credit Report

The information that shows up on a locked or frozen credit report depends largely on the circumstances surrounding the request  and who is requesting the credit report from a credit agency. A locked credit report prevents creditor access to the information on your credit report which includes your payment history, term of accounts, creditors, available credit and personal information. 

By locking this credit information via a credit security freeze, credit data cannot be sold and distributed thereby preventing fraud, theft and distribution of personal information. A list of things that don't show up on locked credit reports is below.

1. Credit history

2. Existing creditors

3. Credit limits and use

4. Delinquent accounts if any

5. Personal information

How locked credit report data may still be viewed

What shows up on a locked credit report also depends on a number of criteria being fulfilled in addition to the circumstances in which those criteria take place. For example, the method by which a credit report is locked may vary from State to State. This information and the different State criteria to freeze credit reports is available on the Experian Credit Agency's 'Security Freeze' webpage . Some of the questions that may assist in determining what information on a locked credit report is available, if it is indeed locked and when the credit report will be locked.

• Which credit bureau(s) is the credit report locked at?

• Has the credit freeze been temporarily lifted?

• Is there a legal investigation affecting you?

• Have your existing creditors sought your locked credit report?

• Have you requested a credit report for yourself?

• What State do you reside in?

• When did you request the credit freeze?

When locked credit information is still available

It is important to note that the above credit information is still accessible by some parties. In other words, a frozen credit report enables is commercial restriction from new creditors gaining access to your credit background. For example, the credit recipient him or herself can still request access to a personal credit report. Furthermore, should an existing credit card account service provider want to consider increasing a credit limit, they too may request access to the credit report. Thus, in some circumstances, access to locked credit reports is still available. Some of these exceptions are listed below:

• Collection agencies

• Existing creditors

• Government agencies ex IRS

• Person the credit report represents

To view personal credit reports that have been frozen one can visit AnnualCreditReport.com. It may be of use to note accessing credit reports through sites other than annualcreditreport.com may require a subscription to trial products which at the time this article was written, does not require strings attached to the free credit report information.

The three major credit agencies in the U.S. are Experian, Transunion and Equifax. These credit agencies also provide individuals free access to their credit reports once every twelve months as required by law. For more information on viewing the information in free credit reports the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's webpage about free credit reports may be helpful.

Summary

What information shows up on a locked credit report includes the credit and personal information discussed and/or linked to herein. Whether or not the frozen credit report is actually frozen depends on a number of circumstances such as the number of credit agencies at which the credit report is frozen and how recently the request to lock the credit report was made.  

For state specific credit freeze information the following National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) webpage offers state by state summaries of credit freeze law. At the federal level Section 605B of 'The Fair Credit Reporting Act' is available via the U.S. Federal Trade Commission website and contains stipulations regarding the blocking of credit information.

Sources:

1. http://www.ftc.gov (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)
2. http://www.experian.com (Experian Credit Agency)