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
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.
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.
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.