This would've saved me $30 when we bought our house. Then, again, this was probably the least expense of any of the cost... > From: Flora <http://www..family/~flora> > Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2018 17:19:13 -0400 > > I was not aware of this new federal law, that allows consumers to place and > lift credit freezes at no charge. Just want to pass the good word. > > Incidentally, Vermont just passed its own law, which took effect last week, > allowing Vermonters the same thing. > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: Scamicide <http://www.wordpress.com/~comment-reply> > Date: Tue, Jun 5, 2018, 5:07 PM > Subject: [New post] Scam of the day â?? June 6, 2018 â?? Free Credit Freezes in > September > To: <http://www.gmail.com/~flora> > > Steven Weisman, Esq. posted: "While many consumer groups have quite > legitimately criticized the recently passed federal legislation that > abolished many of the banking regulations that were put in place to combat > some of the problems that brought about the financial meltdown of 2008, o" > Respond to this post by replying above this line > New post on *Scamicide* > > <https://scamicideblog.wordpress.com/author/scamicideblog/> Scam of the day > â?? June 6, 2018 â?? Free Credit Freezes in September > <https://scamicideblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/scam-of-the-day-june-6-2018-free-credit-freezes-in-september/> > by > Steven Weisman, Esq. > <https://scamicideblog.wordpress.com/author/scamicideblog/> > > While many consumer groups have quite legitimately criticized the recently > passed federal legislation that abolished many of the banking regulations > that were put in place to combat some of the problems that brought about > the financial meltdown of 2008, one part of the new law that has been > largely unreported is a provision that will enable anyone to freeze and > unfreeze their credit with each of the credit reporting bureaus at > absolutely no cost. While in the wake of last year's massive data breach at > Equifax, many Americans froze their credit at each of the three major > credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, a recent study > done by Consumer Reports indicates that 52% of people aware of the Equifax > data breach have not frozen their credit. > > The very best thing you can do to protect yourself from many forms of > identity theft is to put a credit freeze on your credit report at each of > the three major credit reporting agencies. However, the credit reporting > agencies are recommending that you use a new invention of theirs which they > call a "credit lock" instead of a credit freeze to protect your data. They > tout them as being more convenient and tie them into other services. > However, the truth is that you are better off with a credit freeze than > with a credit lock. Credit freezes are governed by laws that protect you, > while credit locks are creations of the credit reporting agencies pursuant > to contracts which they can change at will. Quite frankly, I don't trust > any of the credit reporting agencies to have our best interest as their > primary motivation so I believe you are better off choosing to put a credit > freeze on your credit reports at each of the three major credit reporting > agencies rather than a credit lock. > > For more information about credit freezes check out this article I wrote > for the Saturday Evening Post which described credit freezes in detail. > > http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/08/23/health-and-family/business-and-technology/con-watch-credit-freezes-best-protection-identity-theft.html > > The new federal law allowing you to freeze and unfreeze your credit reports > for free goes into effect in late September. I will remind you again as the > effective date of the law approaches although frankly, the cost of > initially putting a credit freeze on your credit reports is small enough > such that you should consider doing so before then. Presently the cost is > determined by the state in which you live. > > TIPS > > To get started, itâ??s best to first understand the laws and fees governing > credit freezes in your state. Here is a link to a listing of the all of the > state laws. > > http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/consumer-report-security-freeze-state-statutes.aspx > > To get the maximum protection from identity theft, it is important > to freeze your credit at each of the three major credit reporting > agencies. Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get > a credit freeze: > > https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp > https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze > https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html > > Once you have frozen your credit, be sure to keep the PIN and information > on how to unfreeze your credit report in a safe place.