What's New
On September
1, Indiana’s
strong security freeze law took effect. Now, 39 states and the District of
Columbia have enacted legislation based on a
PIRG/Consumers Union model law
that gives consumers the right to protect themselves from identity theft by
“freezing” access to their credit reports to keep the thieves out. But, credit
bureau industry lobbyists are swarming around the U.S. Capitol seeking to pass a
weaker law that would overturn these tough state laws without substituting
meaningful federal reforms. In addition, at least 35 states have given consumers
the right to be notified when a company, like Choicepoint, or a government
agency loses their confidential financial DNA.
How You Can Help
Please take a moment to call your representative to tell them to pass stronger laws that protect identity theft without preventing states from passing even stronger protections.
Overview
Just since February 2005, Choicepoint, Bank of America, DSW Shoe
Warehouse, Cardsystems, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other
companies and agencies have disclosed that they’ve lost the
confidential financial information of over 90 million Americans. We
learned about these security breaches only due to a pioneering
California notice breach law that companies complied with nationwide,
while other states began to pass their own laws.
Easy
availability of confidential financial information, coupled with sloppy
credit-granting practices by creditors and credit bureaus, makes it
easy for identity thieves to open accounts in our name.
Security
freezes give consumers real control over access to their credit report.
A freeze prevents access to your credit report to new creditors. This
closes the loophole that identity thieves have exploited, since most
businesses will not issue new credit or loans to people without first
reviewing their credit reports. California enacted the first freeze law
in 2001, and 24 states have followed with their own laws.
Now,
the banks and credit card companies are pressuring Congress to override
the strongest security freeze and breach notice laws, as well as dozens
of other state identity theft reforms, with a weak federal law that
won’t stop identity theft and won’t allow the states to innovate.
Under
the flawed HR 3997, only previous identity theft victims would be able
to use security freezes. That’s like saying only victims of car crashes
could wear seat belts. And, the bill would allow companies that lost
confidential information to decide whether it was important to tell us.
