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In comparison, here's what it cost me in September to place a credit freeze in a state that does not regulate its cost (Pennsylvania): TransUnion: $10 Expe

In comparison, here's what it cost me in September to place a credit freeze in a state that does not regulate its cost (Pennsylvania): TransUnion: $10 Experian: $10.70 Equifax: free (they made it free after they were hacked - until June 30th) Innovis: free (always free as far as I can tell) And it worked really, really well. I had to apply for a corporate Amex at work soon afterwards. I was rejected because my credit was frozen and was asked to call. I temporarily unfroze my credit while on the phone (on Equifax, because it was free) and Amex ran my credit right then and approved me. Having that kind of control was amazing. If I need to allow a credit check, I can do a 24 hour or 7 day unfreeze. It's such a minor inconvenience for completely blocking credit thieves.

xur17 9y ago
Do you pay for each unfreeze?
- exhilaration 9y ago
  Yes, it normally costs the same as a freeze - so around $10 for me. Equifax is waiving all fees around freezes until June 30 (http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/31/pf/equifax-free-credit-protection/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/31/pf/equifax-free-credit-prote...) so take advantage of it while you can. It's a ripoff, yes, but it's better than spending hours on the phone fixing your credit after it's been stolen. I fully support this federal legislation to make it free.
  - njarboe 9y ago
    Isn't it crazy how the banks have somehow convinced people that when the bank loans money to a fraudster that somehow your credit has been stolen? No - the bank had money stolen from it by a fraudster. When the bank lies to the credit bureau that you have defaulted on a loan, the bank should be fucking punished heavily. Can't some US Senator (Elizabeth Warren?) please point out this fact and introduce legislation to fine the banks? Everyone (minus epsilon bankers) would love it.
rixrax 9y ago
This may sound controversial, but politicians should also limit credit reporting agencies to finite, fixed number of players. Like two or maximum three. Sometime after Equifax hack, I froze our credit on TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. But wasn't aware that e.g. Innovis exists. So ok, I will now go there to put a freeze in place. But now that I realized there maybe other CRAs, DDG tells me I should maybe do something about FICO[1] and PRBC[2] too. Or of course we could do the smart thing, and tell our elected representatives to work towards abolishing/repealing whole CRA industry. I'd wager that what ever rises from those ashes, could not possibly be the horror CRA industry is today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRBC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRBC
- exhilaration 9y ago
  I hadn't heard of Innovis either until I read the New York Times article encouraging everyone to freeze their credit: Christina Bater, managing director at Barrett Asset Management in New York, suggests freezing your file at the little-known company Innovis, too. Hey, why not? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/your-money/identity-theft/equifaxs-instructions-are-confusing-heres-what-to-do-now.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/your-money/identity-theft...
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    Innovis Credit Freeze Online Link: https://www.innovis.com/securityFreeze/index https://www.innovis.com/securityFreeze/index
- jacksproit 9y ago
  Seems to me like it would be better to require an opt in from the person having their data harvested so that bad actors could more easily be punished by the market, and to incentivize passing value from the data collection to the person on whom it is being collected.
  - njarboe 9y ago
    If when a bank gives false statements (what is Owellianly called identify theft) to the credit agencies, this should be highly punished and the problems we are having with leaking true information about people would go away.
s73v3r_ 9y ago
But why should that cost a dime in the first place?
- mancerayder 9y ago
  I agree fully, as the beneficiaries of the credit reporting services are banks/credit lending services. The customers, us, are the clients of this lender. Moreover, why wouldn't it be opt-in? That's right, have the data be exchanged when loans are requested. How often do people apply for mortgages, credit cards and so forth? Definitely not 365 days of the year.

xur17 9y ago

Do you pay for each unfreeze?

exhilaration 9y ago
Yes, it normally costs the same as a freeze - so around $10 for me. Equifax is waiving all fees around freezes until June 30 (http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/31/pf/equifax-free-credit-protection/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/31/pf/equifax-free-credit-prote...) so take advantage of it while you can. It's a ripoff, yes, but it's better than spending hours on the phone fixing your credit after it's been stolen. I fully support this federal legislation to make it free.
- njarboe 9y ago
  Isn't it crazy how the banks have somehow convinced people that when the bank loans money to a fraudster that somehow your credit has been stolen? No - the bank had money stolen from it by a fraudster. When the bank lies to the credit bureau that you have defaulted on a loan, the bank should be fucking punished heavily. Can't some US Senator (Elizabeth Warren?) please point out this fact and introduce legislation to fine the banks? Everyone (minus epsilon bankers) would love it.

rixrax 9y ago

This may sound controversial, but politicians should also limit credit reporting agencies to finite, fixed number of players. Like two or maximum three. Sometime after Equifax hack, I froze our credit on TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. But wasn't aware that e.g. Innovis exists. So ok, I will now go there to put a freeze in place. But now that I realized there maybe other CRAs, DDG tells me I should maybe do something about FICO[1] and PRBC[2] too. Or of course we could do the smart thing, and tell our elected representatives to work towards abolishing/repealing whole CRA industry. I'd wager that what ever rises from those ashes, could not possibly be the horror CRA industry is today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRBC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRBC

exhilaration 9y ago
I hadn't heard of Innovis either until I read the New York Times article encouraging everyone to freeze their credit: Christina Bater, managing director at Barrett Asset Management in New York, suggests freezing your file at the little-known company Innovis, too. Hey, why not? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/your-money/identity-theft/equifaxs-instructions-are-confusing-heres-what-to-do-now.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/your-money/identity-theft...
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Innovis Credit Freeze Online Link: https://www.innovis.com/securityFreeze/index https://www.innovis.com/securityFreeze/index
jacksproit 9y ago
Seems to me like it would be better to require an opt in from the person having their data harvested so that bad actors could more easily be punished by the market, and to incentivize passing value from the data collection to the person on whom it is being collected.
- njarboe 9y ago
  If when a bank gives false statements (what is Owellianly called identify theft) to the credit agencies, this should be highly punished and the problems we are having with leaking true information about people would go away.

s73v3r_ 9y ago

But why should that cost a dime in the first place?

mancerayder 9y ago
I agree fully, as the beneficiaries of the credit reporting services are banks/credit lending services. The customers, us, are the clients of this lender. Moreover, why wouldn't it be opt-in? That's right, have the data be exchanged when loans are requested. How often do people apply for mortgages, credit cards and so forth? Definitely not 365 days of the year.