Credit Scores in Retirement – Episode #79
When you retire, managing your credit score is probably the furthest thing from your mind. However, you need to keep on eye on your credit score as now you’ve entered the “protect” stage of your credit life. You probably no longer need to build your credit if you’ve entered retirement and hopefully you own your own home mortgage free, but most of us still will not be so fortunate.
- Watch out for “piggyback” offers. Piggybacking is the method of building someone’s credit by becoming an authorized user of someone else’s credit file — often a retiree. While you may not need your credit, you don’t want to get into this game, as the company is engaging in a nefarious activity, taking advantage of a loophole and profiting from it. They may likely even steal your identity and commit identity theft.
- Consider a credit or security freeze. Most states have mandated that credit bureaus offer credit freezes to consumers who know they don’t need any more credit. This may apply to you if you are retired. this is different than a 90 day fraud alert or 7 year fraud flag. This freeze is indefinite until you remove it. Plus, 90 day alerts only make getting credit a bit more challenging — i.e. they add a layer of security. Credit freezes make it impossible to open credit in your name for as long as the freeze is in place.
- Monitor your credit score. While you can monitor your credit reports for free via annualcreditreport.com, monitoring the score costs money. Check out our review of Score Watch which is a nice set it and forget it monitoring product which sends out email alerts and cell phone alerts when changes happen.
Retirement is supposed to fun and relaxing. But, as we live longer, it’s also even more imperative that we protect our assets. Two of your more valuable assets are your personal information and your credit score.
Comments
Ask a question, make a comment, share tips