Minnesota Gets Early Freeze for Identity Theft
Minnesota residents now will receive a welcome "freeze"
that is not the type typically associated with harsh
winters. Effective earlier this month, residents can
now "freeze" their credit report for identity theft
prevention.
For any reason now, a Minnesota resident,
can simply contact any of the three major
credit bureaus and request their credit
report file "freeze".
The credit bureau must respond by placing the
freeze on the requesting consumer's file
within three days and also issue a personal
identification number (pin) within 10 days.
The credit freeze denies other parties, without
a current business relationship with you, to gain
access to your credit file without your prior
authorization.
For identity thieves, this translates into a much
tougher effort is now required in Minnesota to
defraud consumers and their credit.
Typically identity theft "collectors" will harvest
the minimally required personal information
required to quickly open up new charge
accounts in retail establishments such as
consumer electronics and/or cellular phone
services using a quick credit granting
process called "instant credit".
Abusing "instant credit" allows the identity thieves
to rapidly open up new charge accounts in your name
and purchase high ticket items like computers or
plasma televisions which they quickly sell for cash.
The same tactic is also used by identity theft fraudsters
in acquiring new cellular phones.
But now Minnesota residents, in addition to 21 other states,
have the ability to stop that particular type of identity
theft cold in it's tracks.
So, our tip for today, is to immediately place a credit
freeze on your file which is maintained separately with
the three major credit bureaus.
Contact any of the three bureaus to get your credit freeze
request as the upcoming Labor Day weekend marks the
beginning of a hectic fall shopping season - one in which
identity theft based fraudulent transactions can easily
get lost in the sheer volume of holiday purchases.
Experian Security Freeze
PO Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013
(972) 390-4172
Equifax Security Freeze
PO Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348
TransUnion Security Freeze
PO Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
(888) 909-8872
Make sure to tell your friends and family members
living in Minnesota about this important new right that
over 1/2 of America unfortunately still does not have.
posted by agent99 @ 12:25 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
If you live in Minnesota, you'll want to quickly take advantage of this important new identity theft prevention right as there's a Ohio senator who will erase this "no reason" freeze with his national bill pending action in September.
For more details on that reversal, click on this link:
Congressman Attempts to Dismantle 22 State Id Theft Laws
For AOL users, if the link is not visible, paste it into your browser address line:
http://idtheftsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/08/congressman-attempts-to-dismantle-22.html
Agent 99, how could we lose these new credit freeze rights if the Ohio guy has his way?
You ask "how could we lose these new credit freeze rights?"
U.S. Congressmen like the good senator from Ohio, working for the financial services & data broker industries, push forward legislation which would be a national law - which supercedes what they call the "patchwork quilt" of state level laws.
"Simple."
In others words, U.S. federal law would hold higher authority than any state or local law.
So, the California law enacted in 2002 which many states have emulated or used as the tough benchmark, would be gutted from much of it's enforcement capability.
You see the financial services & data brokerage industries do not want tougher disclosure and enforcement laws as it makes it more difficult for them to keep citizens unaware of the many instances of data security breaches that have always plagued the industry.
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