what does freezing your credit do?

Gaynell Pizzaro: New accounts can't do credit inquiries unless you unfreeze your credit.If your personal info has been compromised, freezing your credit will protect against ID theft.

Rivka Killmer: Prevents any new credit from being opened in your name without prior approval from you. Only you can "unfreeze" your credit record.

Thomas Riner: This will keep any new credit accounts from being opened in your name. Also, random companies won't be able to just run your credit report after the effective date of the freeze.