[interlocutor]

This is actually a major inconvenience. You won't be able to apply for credit cards or get a loan to buy a car if you have a credit freeze. You have to unfreeze and re-freeze each time you apply for a credit card, and this costs about $30.

[gricardo99]

It depends on your situation. I've done this for the last 3 years, and have only had to lift the freeze a 2 times, both times actually for job offers (it's pretty routine for companies to run background checks on new hires, which includes a credit history check). It does cost ~$30, but can be done online, and takes little time. You can also reduce the cost by asking whoever wants to legitimately check on your credit history, which reporting agency they will be checking with. Then you only need to lift the freeze for that agency, and for that entity asking for a report.

If there isn't some handshake/ack mechanism like this, I'm not sure how you cut back on fraudulent activity. I can see the case for making the credit agencies eat this cost and provide these services for free. That would probably require an act of congress...

Edit: You could also ask a potential employer to eat the cost of unfreezing to check your credit history, or ask them not to do the check at all (especially if it's not really relevant to your job). Either request seems reasonable to me, although I haven't tried that, I'm betting at least most employers would pay for the unfreeze.

[lawnchair_larry]

It's definitely not routine for employers to do credit history checks except in certain narrow roles (and even illegal in many states). You absolutely should not unfreeze it for an employer unless they can provide justification for needing credit information.

[__jal]

How often to you apply for credit?

It is, in any case, far less of an inconvenience than not paying the protection racket, having someone impersonate you, and having the credit oligopoly lie about you because of it, leaving you to somehow clean up their mess.

[praneshp]

Some folks churn, so they apply for credit several times a month. It's not a very small niche community either.

[goialoq]

It is a small niche relative to the credit-using public at large, and there's no reason to accommodate them at the expense of everyone else.

[praneshp]

No one asked anyone to accommodate anyone.

[djrogers]

How often do you apply for credit? In the last 5 years I’ve done it zero times...

[distances]

I have one credit card that I got in my twenties, and have never taken a loan. I'm wondering too what these people are doing.