Credit Bureaus to Offer Credit Freezes to Customers Nationwide
This is certainly good news to anyone out there that is intent on protecting themselves from identity theft and/or credit fraud:
“Major credit bureaus Experian and Equifax on Thursday joined TransUnion and said they will, this year, let people in all 50 states freeze their credit histories…
The decision by all three bureaus to offer national freezes will let consumers lock down their credit histories — especially if they are victims of identity theft. Until now, a patchwork of laws in 39 states allowed consumers, to varying degrees, to protect themselves…
A credit freeze bars the bureaus from issuing your credit history, the summary of loans and payments that forms the basis of your credit score. Because few lenders will issue credit without first seeing a credit score, freezing your information means identity thieves can’t use stolen Social Security numbers to fraudulently open accounts.”
The bad news is that two of the three bureaus (TransUnion and Equifax) will charge $10 a pop to lock and unlock your credit history. They claim that they’re simply trying to cover costs, but Experian has seen fit to offer this service for free. Given that the entire business model of these companies if based on collecting and distributing our personal information, I’m hardly sympathetic to their pleas to “cover their costs” while doing so.
Nonetheless, this is a good option. And if states pass laws mandating lower (or no) fees, the credit bureaus will be forced to comply.
[Source: USA Today]
Published on October 5th, 2007 - 3 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards, Identity Theft
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» The Best of October 2007» How and Why to Freeze Your Credit
» Five Ways to Get Your Credit Report for Free
» How to Improve Your Credit Score
» Capital One Sucks Slightly Less Now
» Capital One – Intentionally Harming Credit Scores?
» Six Reasons You Should Review Your Credit Report
» Free Credit Reports
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
3 Responses to “Credit Bureaus to Offer Credit Freezes to Customers Nationwide”
Leave a Reply
Top Cards by Category
Earn $200 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months. 5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 spent in bonus categories each quarter.
Receive 10,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $1,000 in 3 months of Card membership.
Earn 25,000 Membership Rewards(R) bonus points when you spend $1,000 in your first three months of Card membership.
Enjoy a 0% introductory rate for 18 months on Balance Transfers and 6 months on Purchases. Earn up to 5% cash back in categories that change.
Enjoy no balance transfer fee for a limited time. 0% introductory rate on Balance Transfers and Purchases. Earn up to 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*
Enjoy no balance transfer fee for a limited time. 0% introductory rate on Balance Transfers and Purchases. Earn up to 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*
Enjoy amenities for you and your business, like: complimentary airport club access, including American Airlines Admirals Club(R) lounges.
5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*. Up to 1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on everything else. No annual fee
Earn 3X points on airfare, 2X points on gas and groceries, and 1X points on everything else.
Reports to 3 major credit bureaus monthly and acceptance at millions of locations worldwide, including website purchases and reservations.
- How to Become a Millionaire
- How to Get Out of Debt
- The Best Dollars I've Ever Spent
- How Our Estate Plan is Structured
- How We Paid Our Mortgage In Less than 10 Years
- Money Making Ideas
- How to Manage Your Asset Allocation with Multiple Accounts
- Consumption Smoothing - Save While the Saving's Good
- How to Save on Groceries
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Eleven Great Books About Money
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Pay Off Mortgage Early or Invest?
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage?
- Termite Control: Sentricon vs. Termidor
- How Much Should You Pay a Babysitter?
- Federal Income Tax Rates Went Down but Your Federal Tax Withholding Increased. Here's Why...
- Would the "Fair Tax" Gut the Economy?
How to save money on insurance
- Double-Check Your Ally CDs
- Stocks are Not Bonds, CDs, or Savings Accounts
- The Best Values in Colleges - 2012 Edition
- Five Myths About Renter's Insurance
- Own Your Investments, Rent Your Fun
- Citibank to Issue Credit Cards in China
- Heartstrings and Pursestrings
- Saving Money at the Grocery Store: Store Brand Pricing on the Rise
- Missing Tax Paperwork?
- Is Your Investment Allocation Right?

Tip It!
October 5th, 2007 at 10:39 am
This is great news; I’ll have to write to my representatives to make sure that Maine leads the way in making sure there are no fees for this.
October 5th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I’ll stick with using my state’s law. I can lockdown/freeze all three; total cost: $0.
October 6th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Very nice, wiseman! I should check out my state’s laws on this. It’d be well-worth doing if it’s free. It it costs money to put on and take off, I’ll have to think about it and figure out if anything was coming up which might require a credit check.
Exciting news!