Yes you are right. I conflated the two. That said given the the whole system is known to be compromised one should be able to put a fraud alert on their credit file for longer than 90 days. Or maybe even a permanent fraud alert.

It seems like they could be complimentary since a creditor needs to call you to get approval before extending credit in your name. With both of these even if your credit was unlocked the credit issuer would still be required to get your verbal approval.

yeah i was going to say because when i signed up to robinhood and gave them my arm, leg, hands, feet and more (bank account number, picture of my license, etc) they sent me an email telling me I needed to remove the freeze on my credit report.

Ummm no those freezes are there to stay and gives me some piece of mind!