It hopefully just got a little more difficult for scammers to abuse someone’s credit information, because consumers can now freeze their credit at all three of the major credit reporting agencies, for free.
Last year, in the wake of the massive data breach at Equifax, which exposed the personal information of more than 145 million consumers to hackers, a push began to stop allowing the credit reporting agencies to charge to freeze someone’s credit. Each state has different rules around credit freezes, but in some states, it costs $10 to place a credit freeze on their account and another $10 if they want to lift the freeze. Not anymore though. Going forward, consumers can freeze their credit for free at Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. A credit freeze prevents lenders or other credit providers from opening a new account without a consumer unfreezing their credit.
The change was actually put in place by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act signed into law earlier this year. According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers can now freeze and unfreeze their credit for free. The law also allows parents to freeze their children’s credit for free (applies to children under 16), and guardians, conservators, and those with a valid power of attorney can also get a free freeze for their dependents. Additionally, fraud alerts placed on a consumer’s credit file will be extended from 90 days to one year. A fraud alert requires businesses that check a consumer’s credit to get the consumer’s approval before opening a new account. Consumers must contact each of the three major credit agencies independently to place a credit freeze on their accounts.
Source: HousingWire