The more you let this kind of thing be pushed into your lap, the more it will be.
You're correct that this isn't your problem, and eventually you'll get your money back. You're wrong with idea that you can be passive and not get screwed.
Freezing credit also may lead to people less likely to open up lines of credit as well. I got a credit card request for temp unfreeze, and I've never gotten around to it.
It's all a matter of reducing attack vectors. I can put a firewall on my network, but that doesn't mean I don't also need smart passwords.
The kind of identity theft involving use of a credit report (as opposed to a stolen bank instrument) is relatively rare. Most identity theft involves a stolen credit card and freezing one's credit report offers no benefit in that scenario.
I am absolutely not wrong, the vast majority of people take a passive approach and are fine.
I don't know why you're talking about "getting your money back," this kind of fraud doesn't involve any loss of money from anyone other than a bank. There is no way at all that I can put my own money at risk by not freezing my credit. No one is talking about totally ignoring fraud and allowing a default judgement to occur -- I am talking about not paying upfront fees to micromanage access to pull credit.
It does not matter very much at all.
Not correct. If someone opens a credit card (or anything else at that bank) in your name, and rings up a large balance, you can be sued and levied. It doesn't have to be the same bank; they can and will find your legit accounts in an effort to recover funds. I'm speaking from experience; the actual lawsuit was filed by a law firm that specializes in that type of collection. The protection you get from illegitimate accounts isn't automatic; you'll still have a degree of burden, depending on where you catch things.
You are discussing something entirely different, unrelated to the point I made above.
I'm suggesting you should not pay upfront to help curate this data, to pay to micromanage access to a credit report to protect other lenders.
Freezing a credit report is not going to prevent someone from getting ahold of your information. It will prevent someone who already has your information from running your credit and opening new lines of credit -- which doesn't matter much. It is completely ineffective for the vast majority (90%+) of identity theft.
It will not protect you from someone stealing your cards or checks.
Yes, credit card theft is not a big deal and you don't really need any protection because the CC companies are pretty pro-active about it. That is not what we are talking about. Yes, real identity theft is rare but it does happen. With a few simple steps, you can protect yourself better in the rare case that it does. Can you completely protect yourself? No, but some protection is better than none.
As I said above, it is far, far less time and expense to follow up to actual fraud with a police report than it is to freeze-unfreeze your credit every time you want to pass a credit check.
Unless you need monthly credit checks (very odd), I find that statement extremely hard to believe.
The vast majority of people never freeze their credit and never have to expend any energy on the issue of credit security at all.
Most people have their credit run a few times a year, when they sign up for a new service, new credit product, raise a limit, buy a new vehicle, what have you.