Senate Bill Would Make Credit Freezes Free
bankinfosecurity.com
bankinfosecurity.com
Experian was fairly difficult to do, and required I prove things in a pretty non-trivial way. It involved sending a fax, which was annoying, but not exactly horrible.
Equifax, the company that got hacked, let me unfreeze it discouragingly easily. They asked me some questions on the phone that I figure were likely available in the leaked data, with only one or two questions needing a little more access.
The two questions that needed more access were frightening to me, though. They asked me to confirm an up-to-the-minute balance on either my bank accounts or the cost of a few things I purchased very recently (I forget which it was). Either way, why do they have that data? Why does the company that got hacked have that? I certainly never gave them permissions to have it, and I would like to revoke their permission to have this information.
You probably agreed to it when you agreed to your bank’s TOS
My wife and I just went through this due to a recent identity theft incident. Our experience in setting up a freeze with Equifax was the opposite of ours. My wife (and she's the financial manager of the house!) actually got refused by their online tool, and we had to call up and go through it all again with a human.
TransUnion: $10
Experian: $10.70
Equifax: free (they made it free after they were hacked - until June 30th)
Innovis: free (always free as far as I can tell)
Having that kind of control was amazing. If I need to allow a credit check, I can do a 24 hour or 7 day unfreeze. It's such a minor inconvenience for completely blocking credit thieves.
It's a ripoff, yes, but it's better than spending hours on the phone fixing your credit after it's been stolen. I fully support this federal legislation to make it free.
Sometime after Equifax hack, I froze our credit on TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. But wasn't aware that e.g. Innovis exists.
So ok, I will now go there to put a freeze in place. But now that I realized there maybe other CRAs, DDG tells me I should maybe do something about FICO[1] and PRBC[2] too.
Or of course we could do the smart thing, and tell our elected representatives to work towards abolishing/repealing whole CRA industry. I'd wager that what ever rises from those ashes, could not possibly be the horror CRA industry is today.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRBC
Christina Bater, managing director at Barrett Asset Management in New York, suggests freezing your file at the little-known company Innovis, too. Hey, why not?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/your-money/identity-theft...
My ideas are likely more controversial, though:
I think building and maintaining credit should be transparent. No secret formulas.
I think it should be possible to build credit simply by paying your bills and rent on time, possibly adding some money saved as well. Living well within your means doesn't build credit and it should.
One should have to report people's credit to all credit agencies. This process should be simple, and ideally handled by a government clearinghouse or other agency that the credit agencies split the costs for. This does make more than one agency somewhat redundant, but I think for the American landscape it is a better option than simply using the one agency for everything.
And lastly, I think we should require companies to report timely payments if they report untimely payments. Otherwise, even those accounts going to collections cannot be reported as bad debt. This helps the previous point about being able to build good credit simply by living within your means possible, yet lets folks that have never paid a bill have zero credit.
Moreover, why wouldn't it be opt-in? That's right, have the data be exchanged when loans are requested. How often do people apply for mortgages, credit cards and so forth? Definitely not 365 days of the year.
In addition to mailing a physical letter requesting the freeze to each organization, they require copies of his birth certificate AND social security card AND my social security card AND my drivers license AND proof of address (I.e. utility bill) AND a form from the Social Security Administration AND a court order/power of attorney or notarized statement of an authority to act on his behalf. And money of course.
That court order requirement is a doozy. I don’t even know how to get one of those. So I haven’t pursued it further, which I’m sure was their intent.
And of course there’s the question about how wise it is to send these sloppy, negligent organizations all this sensitive info. Hopefully they fix this racket by the time he turns 18.
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/18/556237149/to-protect-children...
Quote from the article:
> A 2011 report on child identity theft from Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab found that of the participants surveyed, the rate of identity theft for children was 51 times higher than that of adults. Social Security numbers are of special interest because they can be associated with any name and birthdate, the report showed. They also offer thieves a clean financial canvas.
While the cost is annoying, the process is even more annoying.
The entire idea/industry needs to be changed. It’s absurd all Americans are opted into this system.
How is credit reporting handled in other countries?
Edit: my wife’s credit. ;)
But no, on a more serious note, the process should look more like:
1. Institution asks for Credit pull
2. Person gets alerted for approval of said request
3. After pull, credit remains locked
I'm certain the other agencies are hard at work implementing the same feature.
Which means they aren't legally bound not to release your credit report to whomever they want (aka whoever pays them), and even in their own FAQ they admit they have far more exceptions for who can ignore the lock (plus vague wording) than a credit freeze legally allows (compare [0] and [1]).
Further, one should ask why they are providing this free and easy service, while their actual credit freeze system is awful (at least in my experience)? Perhaps to push consumers to the not legally binding option so that they can continue to sell your "locked" credit report without legal consequences?
[0] https://www.equifax.com/personal/products/credit/credit-lock... [1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq...
Also, this isn't true. Purchasers must have "permissible purpose", which is regulated.
1. Bank loans money to a fraudster with your information.
2. Fraudster does not pay back the bank.
3. Bank commits libel and tells the credit agency that you defaulted on a loan
4. You tell the police that the bank broke the law.
5. Bank gets heavily fined and stops lying to the credit bureaus.
6. "Identify theft" no long exists.
In Italy, if you don't pay an IOU, you generally get placed on a global registry. It's not easy to get off the registry, but IOUs are very very regulated and not too common. It's a little easier if you just haven't paid back a loan for a month, but I don't know exactly because (unlike the US) I have only gotten a loan once in my life for my first car. Unlike the US, by default you are considered to be a good payer, you don't need to build up a credit history.
I am interested in how it works in Canada, because it probably has some similarities with the US system.
It's not the consumer's fault that banks themselves commit fraud, so why do the consumers then have to pay for the consequences? With shit laws like this on the books, it's hard to get angry at people who rob banks: they're doing what our legislators failed to do for them. I don't even see that as immoral anymore, especially compared to current law that protects the thieves and banks and throw the consumer under the bus.
Data hoarding industries like these, those that really have too much sway over individuals' well being and access to basic services, needs to be the second most regulated thing on the planet. Or maybe third.
They can't have a shared secret with you by "default". But they collect all sorts of private information about you by default... so maybe they shouldn't do that?
If only we had some way to verify an identity while keeping important information private- oh wait, we do, public-key cryptography.
Locking your Equifax credit report prevents access by potential creditors and lenders, but there are exceptions. ... Companies that wish to make pre-approved offers of credit or insurance to you ...
Equifax maintains consumers’ credit reports and provides information to certain customers, including credit card companies and lenders, so that they may offer pre-approved offers to consumers as permitted by law. Consumers that prefer not to receive such offers should visit www.optoutprescreen.com, or call toll free at 888-5-OPT OUT (or 888-567-8688).
So I'd really encourage everyone to do that opt out thing, too.
I need to get the fiance to do the same thing, because after buying the house, she's getting 20+ credit card offers/etc per week. it's ridiculous how much of it masquerades itself as legitimate business mail too. mixed in with the medical bills.
However the US post office also sells your address when you fill out a change of address form. This is why all those new home services offers start showing up. And there is no way to opt out of this. See:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-p...
[0] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq...
A credit freeze is analogous to "deleting" a hypothetical mandatory FB account (we all know they don't actually delete your data but at least you aren't publicly visible).
Ummm no those freezes are there to stay and gives me some piece of mind!
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.