Credit Freezes

[Martha]

People here have mentioned from time to time putting a freeze on their credit reports in order to prevent identity theft. I just read an article in one of my law journals about credit freezes. California was the first to allow freezes. Now Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, louisiana, maine, Minnesota, Nevada, new Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah , Vernot, Wisconsin and New York allow freezes for any reason. A few states require that the consumer be a victim of identity theft in order to get a freeze. These states are hawaii, kansas, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.

But, there was a recent court case in California which found California's freeze statute unconstitional under the first amendment. The credit reporting agencies argued that they have a first amendment right to disseminate information they have gathered. The case in on appeal. Odds are that similar cases will be filed by creditors in other states as well.

Here is a link to some information about the California case:

http://www.mayitpleasethecourt.com/journal.asp?blogid=1348

 

[renferme]

sorry I'm stupid, but what's a credit freeze ?

 

[Martha]

Sorry.

You ask the credit reporting agencies to put a freeze on your credit information. This means that no one will have access to any credit information, including lenders, insurers, and employers.

When you apply for credit the lender will request a copy of your credit report. If you have a freeze on your account, the company will be told that it cannot see your credit file because your account is frozen. The lender or whoever is trying to access the report most likely won't take further action without consulting you.

But this does not mean that you won't be able to get credit or insurance or allow potential employers to run a background check. The credit bureaus will give you a personal identification number for you to use to lift the freeze.

 

[free4now]

Here's my lazy approach: Because I use paypal I get free membership in a credit monitoring service (can't remember the name) which sends me email whenever there is activity on my credit file (inquiries etc). So I figure if there is activity and I haven't done anything to cause it, then I'll get active and freeze or take whatever steps are necessary.

I'm applying for United and American credit cards every 2 months or so to collect their 20k mile bonuses each time, so I can't be bothered to freeze/unfreeze my credit every month or so.