Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

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sil2017
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Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by sil2017 »

never mind.....moving on
Last edited by sil2017 on Sun May 29, 2022 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jack FFR1846
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

Many people at any brokerage can go into accounts. Same with banks and credit unions. If you want the info secret, you need a big enough mattress to keep your cash under it.

I have never had an issue with Fidelity. I've been a private client for maybe 20 years and invested with them for maybe 30. I have never met with my private client manager except to introduce myself and say hi once when DW and I stopped to have them help with an IRA transfer where the "from" company had a complicated 19 page form for a $3500 account. The manager knew who I was by my name. He called me "The indexing guy". I took that as a compliment. I don't talk with anyone from any brokerage on the phone. They have nothing I want to talk about.
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brad.clarkston
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by brad.clarkston »

Anyone at your cell phone company or medical offices can look up your account information including your payment methods.
At least Fidelity/Vanguard/etc has a reason to be more conscious with your finance information.
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sil2017
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by sil2017 »

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:26 pm Many people at any brokerage can go into accounts. Same with banks and credit unions. If you want the info secret, you need a big enough mattress to keep your cash under it.

I have never had an issue with Fidelity. I've been a private client for maybe 20 years and invested with them for maybe 30. I have never met with my private client manager except to introduce myself and say hi once when DW and I stopped to have them help with an IRA transfer where the "from" company had a complicated 19 page form for a $3500 account. The manager knew who I was by my name. He called me "The indexing guy". I took that as a compliment. I don't talk with anyone from any brokerage on the phone. They have nothing I want to talk about.
The CFP said it was an introductory meeting to get to know me. But do you think the questions asked was just a routine introductory meeting? I have never met with any investment person before.
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sil2017
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by sil2017 »

delete
Last edited by sil2017 on Sun May 29, 2022 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
livesoft
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by livesoft »

sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:33 pmDo the CFP from Fidelity and Vanguard know my full social security number? I know when I called up Vanguard once, i was asked for the last 4 digit of my SSN which is quite common.
I think it is safest to assume that everyone at Fidelity and Vanguard knows your full SSN. So what?
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brad.clarkston
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by brad.clarkston »

They will see your last four that's common in just about any system to check for account holder.
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mary1492
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by mary1492 »

.....
Last edited by mary1492 on Thu Sep 29, 2022 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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martincmartin
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by martincmartin »

brad.clarkston wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:31 pm Anyone at your cell phone company or medical offices can look up your account information including your payment methods.
At least Fidelity/Vanguard/etc has a reason to be more conscious with your finance information.
They probably can only do it if they have a good reason. There are often controls in place so that not just anyone can access it, but someone who needs to in order to do their job.

That said, if this person was listed as your financial planner at Fidelity, they probably have access to your Fidelity account because that's what a financial planner does: understand all your investments everywhere, and give you advice on how to manage them. (Often not-so-great advice, but that's for a different thread.)
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by brad.clarkston »

martincmartin wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:49 pm
brad.clarkston wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:31 pm Anyone at your cell phone company or medical offices can look up your account information including your payment methods.
At least Fidelity/Vanguard/etc has a reason to be more conscious with your finance information.
They probably can only do it if they have a good reason. There are often controls in place so that not just anyone can access it, but someone who needs to in order to do their job.

That said, if this person was listed as your financial planner at Fidelity, they probably have access to your Fidelity account because that's what a financial planner does: understand all your investments everywhere, and give you advice on how to manage them. (Often not-so-great advice, but that's for a different thread.)
Correct the janitors and accountants will not have access but I was talking about customer support reps and planners that OP will be dealing with.
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martincmartin
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by martincmartin »

brad.clarkston wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:59 pm
martincmartin wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:49 pm
brad.clarkston wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:31 pm Anyone at your cell phone company or medical offices can look up your account information including your payment methods.
At least Fidelity/Vanguard/etc has a reason to be more conscious with your finance information.
They probably can only do it if they have a good reason. There are often controls in place so that not just anyone can access it, but someone who needs to in order to do their job.

That said, if this person was listed as your financial planner at Fidelity, they probably have access to your Fidelity account because that's what a financial planner does: understand all your investments everywhere, and give you advice on how to manage them. (Often not-so-great advice, but that's for a different thread.)
Correct the janitors and accountants will not have access but I was talking about customer support reps and planners that OP will be dealing with.
In between janitors & accountants, and the customer support reps and planners that OP deals with, are the customer support reps and planners that OP doesn't deal with. Basically, customer support reps can't just say "hey I wonder how much Kim Kardashian has at Fidelity, I'll just take a quick peek at her account..." They can only look it up when they need to, e.g. when she calls in and asks a question about her account.

So, other than the financial planner who OP has asked to give some advice on how to invest money, no other financial planner at Fidelity can look at your account. And even that financial planner can only do it if they have a business reason to, e.g. they can't just go poking through your account one day because they're bored.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Invest4lt »

I had the same experience. I met with a CFP and my account was displayed. I was a bit surprised initially, but then realized that the rep had a valid reason to view my account else how could he or she provide useful advice? Also, note that the fidelity advisors have a fiduciary relationship with you. So, I don’t think there is anything here that is concerning.
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ModifiedDuration
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by ModifiedDuration »

I wouldn’t worry about the privacy of your data.

As far as your concerns about the CFP keeping your information confidential, under the CFP Code and Standards:

“A CFP® professional must keep confidential and may not disclose any non-public personal information about any prospective, current, or former Client.”

There are exceptions. For example, if you gave the CFP permission to provide information to a third party or information can be provided to law enforcement authorities concerning suspected unlawful activities, to the extent permitted by the law.

As far as confidentiality with Fidelity, they have a very detailed privacy policy:

https://www.fidelity.com/privacy-policy

And here is Fidelity’s Privacy Notice:

https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060 ... notice.pdf

In addition, there are also Federal Laws on privacy that Fidelity must comply with, for example:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/ ... al-privacy
Last edited by ModifiedDuration on Sat May 28, 2022 8:23 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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rob
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by rob »

livesoft wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:36 pm
sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:33 pmDo the CFP from Fidelity and Vanguard know my full social security number? I know when I called up Vanguard once, i was asked for the last 4 digit of my SSN which is quite common.
I think it is safest to assume that everyone at Fidelity and Vanguard knows your full SSN. So what?
I cannot speak to every system in every firm but most do not have access to the full value now days - usually the last 4. PII is usually protected at most of these places to varying degrees.
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Oreamnos
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Oreamnos »

sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:19 pm
I gave him very sensitive information about my pension, net worth, stocks and cash in my portfolio, what other firms beside Fidelity, tax information cause i wanted to know how i could lower my tax since i only have the standard deduction yearly and information about myself (where i grew up etc)

I guess I just see it differently, but why is this information "very sensitive", unless you have some really unique and special situation? I'm sure it feels like very "private" information, but it's not really what I'd call "sensitive".
JonnyBeRetired
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by JonnyBeRetired »

sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:19 pm Questions-
Could i really expect him to keep all my personal answers private?
Are those routine questions asked by a CFP?
Can anyone from Fidelity go into my account without my password? (BIG concern of mine)
is there such thing as a free lunch ( free meeting). He wants to meet back with me after my vacation.
Could i really expect him to keep all my personal answers private? Yes
Are those routine questions asked by a CFP? Yes, our CFP initially entered all that information into Fidelity’s Retirement Tool, ran a Monte Carlo analysis and walked us through the results. We have accounts at more than one firm and we now keep that info up to date and our Fidelity CFP does a nice annual review of our information.
Can anyone from Fidelity go into my account without my password? (BIG concern of mine) No, not just anyone.
is there such thing as a free lunch ( free meeting). Yes, we’ve received free meals from our brokerage offices during ‘special presentations’ on current topics (obviously none in the past couple of years). Fidelity’s annual check-in is free. There is no requirement to go to the meeting or buy other services.
He wants to meet back with me after my vacation.Be sure to share pictures, we’ve had two CFPs over the past ten years, both have been very nice people.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Katietsu »

sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:19 pm I gave him very sensitive information about my pension, net worth, stocks and cash in my portfolio, what other firms beside Fidelity, tax information cause i wanted to know how i could lower my tax since i only have the standard deduction yearly and information about myself (where i grew up etc)
During the meeting I told him several times I wanted the information kept private .

I would not really call this very sensitive information myself. I do not mean in any way to diminish your feelings just to give you perspective that others might not feel the same way. But regardless, I am sure he is obligated to maintain privacy.

Towards the end of the meeting, I saw my account on the screen which freaked me out. How did he log into my account and see everything since he doesn't have my password. What other personal information can he get access to?

Honestly, this sentence is the most striking of your post. I can not imagine meeting with my brokerage rep without them having already looked at my account. I would consider it derelict if they had not prepared themselves for the meeting. I would 100% expect this.



Questions-
Could i really expect him to keep all my personal answers private? Yes.
Are those routine questions asked by a CFP? Yes. Without having your full financial picture, they can not give you correct advice.
Can anyone from Fidelity go into my account without my password? (BIG concern of mine) I will let others comment on this. But your password is not usually relevant internally. There are other checks that will determine who can see your account. At the risk of causing you anxiety, in many hospitals, every healthcare worker with patient care or billing responsibilities can also access all your information, which I would consider to be more sensitive information than my bank balance. HIPAA rules forbid it, but there is nothing in the electronic medical records system to stop it. And I relaxed about some of this stuff when I realized that there were literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people who have access to my SSN if they wanted to break protocol.

is there such thing as a free lunch ( free meeting). He wants to meet back with me after my vacation. Yes and No. For me, I do get a soft sell periodically on one product or another. But, otherwise, I utilize the assigned person on the rare occasion I feel it is needed. So you can use what is useful and so know to other suggestions, in my experience.
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sil2017
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by sil2017 »

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Watty
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Watty »

Retired computer programmer here. (But I always worked in non-financial industries.)

One thing to realize is that even though lots of people at Fidelity may be authorized to see your accounts in your their computer system few people will be authorized to do any transactions on it.

Even when someone with inquiry only access to your account looks at your account it will almost certainly be recorded that they have accessed your account. If someone is found to have accessed accounts they did not have a reason to then they would be in all sorts of trouble and may even be fired.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Invest4lt »

sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 8:07 pm
If you have been through two identify theft with credit card , IRS fraud and one passport fraud , you may understand why I have cold feet .

Thank you for your reply
Totally agree that this is a good thing to track and you've had more than your share of bad experiences to warrant your concerns, but in many ways, I think the best we can do is lock/freeze credit reports, use an IRS PIN, etc. While there are some notable cases of fraud perpetrated by CFPs on the FINRA website, I was surprised by the amount of account info available to your local bank teller/manager. Same is true for call center personnel--many of which are outside the US. Even domestic call centers have had issues--a google search on a major airline will reveal call centers located in prisons which have been closed. That is to say, this info is private, but isn't really all that sensitive at this point since it is widely available. In some ways it can be disconcerting but it seems to me to be largely out of our hands. Not meeting with your CFP (or making transactions via a bank teller) does not remove their access from your information. Accessing data (even view only) is usually logged, but I question if the logs are reviewed or questioned especially if there hasn't been a transaction recorded.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by chris319 »

Privacy issues aside, my concern would be whether the CFP will put your interests ahead of Fidelity's or vice versa, and whether he will be a Fidelity shill and put the hard sell on you, loading you up with Fidelity products which are profitable for them.

I am generally leery of financial advisors.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by burgertimer »

At Fidelity, if you use their "planning tool", there is a click through page where you agree to let their planners know about anything that you enter, including your fidelity accounts and linked non-fidelity accounts.

Anecdotally, I've had 2 different reps (salespeople) access my information, and it hasn't been misused, and their advice wasn't great. Both of them tried to slow sell me. First meeting was just a overview, you can retired in x years, whatever. About 2 months later, they follow up with their sales pitch, either annuities or actively managed accounts. After I didn't show any interest and acted like smart ass, they stopped calling me. This was fine. Some people may benefit or need the help. The reps are smart and get the picture.

What you might want to do is not to link your non-fidelity accounts. If you know the holdings in your other accounts, you can just enter it/update it manually and still use the Fidelity planning tool. You can also lie about the brokerage where it resides for next time, or other details that doesn't matter for planning purposes. I tend to give them a ballpark number with wrong access details so they can do their job and I can get the discussion that I was looking for.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by ModifiedDuration »

chris319 wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 12:17 am Privacy issues aside, my concern would be whether the CFP will put your interests ahead of Fidelity's or vice versa, and whether he will be a Fidelity shill and put the hard sell on you, loading you up with Fidelity products which are profitable for them.

I am generally leery of financial advisors.
A CFP must follow the Standards of Conduct, which starts off with:

“FIDUCIARY DUTY

At all times when providing Financial Advice to a Client, a CFP® professional must act as a fiduciary, and therefore, act in the best interests of the Client. The following duties must be fulfilled:

Duty of Loyalty.
A CFP® professional must:
Place the interests of the Client above the interests of the CFP® professional and the CFP® Professional’s Firm;

Avoid Conflicts of Interest, or fully disclose Material Conflicts of Interest to the Client, obtain the Client’s informed consent, and properly manage the conflict; and

Act without regard to the financial or other interests of the CFP® professional, the CFP® Professional’s Firm, or any individual or entity other than the Client, which means that a CFP® professional acting under a Conflict of Interest continues to have a duty to act in the best interests of the Client and place the Client’s interests above the CFP® professional’s.

https://www.cfp.net/ethics/code-of-ethi ... of-conduct
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by backpacker61 »

sil2017 wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 6:19 pm is there such thing as a free lunch ( free meeting). He wants to meet back with me after my vacation.
Fidelity wants to retain you as a client.

I had a meeting with a Fidelity CFP. It seems their major offices assign one of their CFP's to Fidelity clients that don't otherwise have an advisory relationship with the company (are either self-directed investors or have advisory relationships elsewhere). After consolidating a couple IRA's into my employer's retirement savings plan (which is at Fidelity), it seems I got tagged to have a consultation with this local "CFP for non-advisory clients". My being tagged for a CFP consultation may also have been a product of my age; I am "sixty-ish", so somewhat on "final approach" to retirement age.

It was fine. I had entered my savings, pension, Social Security, and estimated expense information into Fidelity's Retirement Planning and Guidance tool, and he reviewed that. I didn't choose to make any particular changes to my accounts.

I think Fidelity realizes that many clients will want to continue to manage their retirement savings themselves, but that if you are considering entering into an advisory relationship with an investment firm, they want you to give Fidelity's advisory services due consideration. In truth, I think you could do far worse than entering into an advisory relationship with Fidelity (witness the Edward Jones or Ameriprise stories on these Bogleheads threads).
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beyou
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by beyou »

I worked in IT in a number of financial services firms,
major and minor competitors of Fidelity.

There are many ways these firms protect your data.
Not just anyone can see your account data but those who need to can do so. Every application and database at my firm required a request for permission to access, with approval of often multiple managers to gain access. And over the years one’s ability to take data with you (or publish/share) outside the firm was reduced/eliminated to the point sometimes I had valid reasons to share less sensitive data outside but could not do what I really needed to do.

I wouldn’t worry about any of the privacy related issues, I believe Fidelity likely has the same controls in place as the same auditors visit all the fund managers/brokers in the industry. We all share info on common industry regulations and how best to comply, including data privacy. Does not mean dishonest and/or careless employees can’t find ways around such rules and procedures, it can happen, but they risk their jobs in doing so.

What I would worry about is relying too much on a planner to help you with your decisions and instead ask questions here. Do some suggested reading such as boglehead recommended books and the wiki here. These mass retail brokers will hire relatively inexperienced people to be assigned to random retail customers. With some effort you will find you can make better decisions and avoid their sales pressure.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Parkinglotracer »

I am fine to discuss my financial specifics with third parties like vanguard or fidelity - I do not think there is a large amount of risk in doing so. I transact with credit card numbers on line. I think twice and rarely give anyone my social security number - funny enough the gov uses my social security number as my insurance Id for tricare (retired military) so I am forced to give it out many times. As the Chinese hacked the office of personnel management security clearance records years ago no doubt all my info / my family info is on the street (we should all just assume that). I placed fraud alerts for me and spouse with all the credit agencies years ago (they are easy to release) and applied for / have a security pin with irs too which is easy.

That being said I think if any fidelity rep was going to use the info from our accounts to steal from us they would be caught very quickly these days. As another poster mentioned it is more likely they will legally sell you some advice or services that you may not need - that is what you need to be on the look out for imho. And phone and Craigslist scams. That is where our BH forum can help. You post it here and you can get a few good second opinions. Good luck and hope we can help you sleep easier.
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by Parkinglotracer »

beyou wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 6:14 am I worked in IT in a number of financial services firms,
major and minor competitors of Fidelity.

There are many ways these firms protect your data.
Not just anyone can see your account data but those who need to can do so. Every application and database at my firm required a request for permission to access, with approval of often multiple managers to gain access. And over the years one’s ability to take data with you (or publish/share) outside the firm was reduced/eliminated to the point sometimes I had valid reasons to share less sensitive data outside but could not do what I really needed to do.

I wouldn’t worry about any of the privacy related issues, I believe Fidelity likely has the same controls in place as the same auditors visit all the fund managers/brokers in the industry. We all share info on common industry regulations and how best to comply, including data privacy. Does not mean dishonest and/or careless employees can’t find ways around such rules and procedures, it can happen, but they risk their jobs in doing so.

What I would worry about is relying too much on a planner to help you with your decisions and instead ask questions here. Do some suggested reading such as boglehead recommended books and the wiki here. These mass retail brokers will hire relatively inexperienced people to be assigned to random retail customers. With some effort you will find you can make better decisions and avoid their sales pressure.
+1 excellent advice
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Re: Free in person meeting with Fidelity CFP

Post by valleyrock »

I have no concern talking about anything with our Fidelity rep, who's a CFP. The CFP designation is something they get, but we're not paying the Feidelity rep for financial or planning advice (or anything else). We just view the rep as someone to help with the mechanics of managing our account, and for that, he's really excellent.

As for telling our Fidelity rep about our other accounts, sources of income, SS, etc., we did sit down and give him broad numbers once and he entered them into his software and came up with some retirement projection information which is fine as far as it goes. Fidelity, Schwab, etc. all allow you enter information from other accounts so as to help size up your total financial situation. And, naturally, they'd like to know as much as they can about you because they'd like to have all your funds there. But we didn't feel any pressure to move everything there.

Another reason for not having a lot of concern is that our credit accounts (Experian, etc.) are all frozen. There are other discussions about that, but it's really important to do the freeze for the three big institutions (and there are a couple more, I believe). The freeze has regulatory requirements, but they try to sell other things like "holds," and such, for which there are no such requirements.
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