SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
In a Few Days, Credit Freezes Will Be Fee-Free:
Later this month, all of the three major consumer credit bureaus will be required to offer free credit freezes to all Americans and their dependents. Maybe you’ve been holding off freezing your credit file because your home state currently charges a fee for placing or thawing a credit freeze, or because you believe it’s just not worth the hassle. If that accurately describes your views on the matter, this post may well change your mind.
A credit freeze — also known as a “security freeze” — restricts access to your credit file, making it far more difficult for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name.
Currently, many states allow the big three bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — to charge a fee for placing or lifting a security freeze. But thanks to a federal law enacted earlier this year, after Sept. 21, 2018 it will be free to freeze and unfreeze your credit file and those of your children or dependents throughout the United States.
[...] According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, when the new law takes effect on September 21, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion must each set up a webpage for requesting fraud alerts and credit freezes.
The law also provides additional ID theft protections to minors. Currently, some state laws allow you to freeze a child’s credit file, while others do not. Starting Sept. 21, no matter where you live you’ll be able to get a free credit freeze for kids under 16 years old.
[...] In addition, the law requires the big three bureaus to offer free electronic credit monitoring services to all active duty military personnel. It also changes the rules for “fraud alerts,” which currently are free but only last for 90 days. With a fraud alert on your credit file, lenders or service providers should not grant credit in your name without first contacting you to obtain your approval — by phone or whatever other method you specify when you apply for the fraud alert.
[...] A key unanswered question about these changes is whether the new dedicated credit bureau freeze sites will work any more reliably than the current freeze sites operated by the big three bureaus. The Web and social media are littered with consumer complaints — particularly over the past year — about the various freeze sites freezing up and returning endless error messages, or simply discouraging consumers from filing a freeze thanks to insecure Web site components.
It will be interesting to see whether these new freeze sites will try to steer consumers away from freezes and toward other in-house offerings, such as paid credit reports, credit monitoring, or “credit lock” services. All three big bureaus tout their credit lock services as an easier and faster alternative to freezes.
(Score: 4, Informative) by darkpixel on Sunday September 16 2018, @06:29PM (8 children)
Why is this even a thing? "Our shit is really insecure and can ruin your life, so we created this super-huge-and-annoying hurdle that *you* as a customer have to do in order to prevent us from ruining your life when a bad guy does something wrong."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @06:42PM (6 children)
Why would any business make it easy for the product to decide not to be sold?
(Score: 2) by BK on Sunday September 16 2018, @08:33PM (5 children)
Unfortunately, this. GP misses the point that the folks with the credit rating are not the customers. More like victims lately.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:03PM (3 children)
This is very true.
But so is this conversation
"Hey can you hack into the credit agency and fix my credit"
"Why?"
"Well I do not want anyone knowing I did not pay this car off and skipped out on the last 3 months of rent"
"Well sounds like you *ARE* a bad credit risk"
"yeah but can you fix that for me so I can get another car?"
"Yes, Yes I can fix your credit?"
"Oh really?"
"yes.... pay your fucking bills"
He wants to continue to rip people off and not get caught.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:15PM (1 child)
If they were so worried about that they would "freeze" your credit by default.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:34PM
Do not disagree with that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @05:23AM
Or maybe he just doesn't want them to store massive amounts of information about him, only for a criminal hacker to later obtain that information because the security of these three companies is nearly nonexistent. But we can't punish them for having poor security despite the fact that it's nearly impossible to not deal with these companies, oh no.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @01:55PM
If we would wake up and realize it's not a "credit rating" but a "debt rating", we'd change our minds. Think about. Try going 5 years cash only and see what happens to your "credit rating". It's truly a measure of your debt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @10:00PM
True.
But....
Equifax (and the other two of the big three) make money by selling your info to other companies.
A credit freeze deprives them of that revenue stream. Which is why they try to physiologically trick you into taking one of their 'fee per month' protection racket plans rather than performing a full freeze.
So, the absolute best thing anyone can do to stick it to these companies is to actually freeze one's credit. Yes, it is a pain for you to have to go through with turning on the freeze. But then once on your can rest assured in the knowledge that you've deprived them of some of the money they would otherwise have been making from selling your data around.