Putting Your Credit On “Ice”
In order to help citizens protect themselves from identity theft, California and Texas have passed legislation that allows individuals to freeze their credit history with each of the three credit bureaus. There are mixed reviews from various camps on whether or not this will actually benefit consumers, however, many other states are proposing similar legislation.
Fraud experts and consumer advocacy groups are praising the legislation as being a much needed first step towards arresting the ever-increasing incidents of identity theft in this country. Realtors and lenders are claiming that this type legislation will ultimately be detrimental to consumers by making credit more difficult to get.
The problem of identity theft in this country is not only major issue, it’s one that won’t go away. The same technology that allows individuals to get credit almost instantaneously is the technology that supports opportunity for identity theft to occur.
Over the next few days/weeks, we are going to look at not only the legislation but the numerous reactions to it and, hopefully, we can find a common thread with which we can weave additional methods for protecting ourselves.
I will be looking for feedback from anyone who has either an opinion to share or a suggestion to offer. When we, as consumers, give voice to our need for stronger legislation and better resources for addressing this issue, we can achieve postive results.