| |
Preventing Identity Theft By Freezing Credit Reports
To help protect people from identity theft many states are now passing laws to allow individuals to freeze their credit reports. This means that should someone try to use your name for a credit card or loan your information cannot be released by the credit bureaus since it is frozen.
These new freeze laws are being adopted by a growing number of states to help individuals secure their personal identity from thieves by freezing their credit reports when they believe they have been a victim of identity theft. However, advocates of these laws say the process may not completely prevent identity theft but it will reduce the effects of identity theft should it occur. The biggest benefit from these laws is the ability to prevent the individual from using your personal identity and information to open lines of credit that can cause you financial problems since credit often can't be given without a credit report.
Currently these freeze laws are available in about half the states in the United States. Most states passed these laws a few years ago when publicity for identity theft was high and incidents were becoming more common. Other laws we passed as well that help to prevent companies from accidentally causing an identity theft incident and allowing individuals to have more control over what to do should identity theft occur.
Once you freeze your credit report you can also be notified by credit agencies when someone is trying to apply for a credit line using any of your personal information. In order to freeze your credit report you will need to send requests to three different credit agencies through the mail. Typically these are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union
|
|
|
