Credit Freezes – Changes Coming Soon

For all of those who have done nothing since the Equifax credit breach or any other credit breach, you may be in luck as there are changes coming to the credit freeze.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, a new federal law will make credit freezes and credit alerts free. The law takes effect September 21, 2018 and here are some highlights.

Free credit freezes

•  A credit freeze restricts access to your credit file, making it harder for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name.
• You will get a PIN to use in order to open the file (DO NOT LOSE).
• Currently, credit freezes may involve fees. Starting this fall, it will be free to freeze and unfreeze your credit file.
• Child credit freezes
  • This allows you to freeze a child’s credit file until the child is old enough to use credit.
  • Currently, it varies by state but after September 21, 2018 no matter where you live you can get a free credit freeze for a child under the age of 16.
    

Year-long fraud alerts

A fraud alert will tell any business that runs your credit report that they should check with you before opening a new account. The current fraud alerts only last 90 days. Starting this fall, an initial fraud alert will last for one year. It will still be free and identity theft victims can still get an extended alert for seven years.

Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax are setting up information pages to submit requests.  Links to those pages as well as additional information will be available at IdentityTheft.gov.

Additional resources :

To get a free copy of your credit report go to www.annualcreditreport.com which is a Federal Trade Commission website. You can also check out www.IdentityTheft.gov  if you have been a victim of identity theft. And the link to this press release from the Federal Trade Commission is at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/06/free-credit-freezes-are-coming-soon-0?utm_source=govdelivery