Security freeze on my TransUnion credit report

Question

I run a credit check on myself every couple months just to make sure everything looks good. Well today I received this message on the report:

*SECURITY FREEZE: THE FOLLOWING CREDIT BUREAUS REPORT THAT YOU HAVE PLACED A SECURITY FREEZE OR LOCK ON THIS FILE. HOWEVER, THE FILE HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO YOU UNDER THE APPLICABLE EXEMPTION PROVISIONS (PROVIDING A CONSUMER WITH A COPY OF HIS OR HER CREDIT REPORT UPON THE CONSUMER'S REQUEST): TRANSUNION *

About 6 weeks ago I requested an address change and change of employment records on my TransUnion report, but other than that I haven't asked them to specifically freeze my credit or put out an all-points security alert on me.

Hopefully this alert is just less extreme than it sounds. How do I remedy this and what does it mean?

Answer 1

A freeze is something you can place on your account so that no one can look at it. The fact that this happened without you doing anything probably just indicates a mistake at TransUnion. It shouldn't take much more than a phone call to lift the freeze (if you want).

I read a little bit about what a freeze is at another credit bureau, Experian, but it should be roughly the same for TransUnion.