Security Freeze

Texas recently enacted a new law (reproduced in full below) allowing people to place a “Security Freeze” on their credit information, prohibiting access without express consent. A security freeze effectively prevents further identity theft by requiring that the consumer expressly consent to dissemination of information in his or her credit report. Any consumer filing a Security Freeze will be provided with a Personal Identification Number that must be provided to the credit bureau each time an application for credit is made.

A security freeze will protect your credit from identity thieves; however, it will also make the obtaining of new credit more difficult.  For this reason, I do not recommend that you use a Security Freeze unless you rarely apply for new credit, and are not in a hurry when you do.
Texas law provides that credit bureaus may charge a reasonable fee to put a freeze on your credit.  It also requires that one credit bureau must honor a security freeze placed on a consumer’s credit by another credit bureau.  Here is information about how to file a security freeze:
CSC Credit Services (Equifax Affiliate)
Phone: (800) 272-9281 or (281) 878-4848
Address: P.O. Box 674438, Houston, TX 77267-4438
What You Need to Do:  Mail a certified request letter and check with a copy of your ID and a valid police report, investigative report or complaint.
Cost: $10
Experian
Phone: (888) 583-4080
Address: P.O. Box 95554, Allen, TX 75013
What You Need to Do:  Mail a certified letter with your full name (including middle initial); current address and two proofs of address (utility bill, bank statement, driver’s license); Social Security number; date of birth.  You must also send a valid police report, investigative report or complaint.
Cost: $10
TransUnion
Phone: (888) 909-8872
Address: P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834
What You Need to Do:  Send a certified letter and include your name, address, Social Security number and credit card with expiration date, to pay for service.  You must also send a valid police report, investigative report, or complaint.
Cost: $10

Here is the new Security Freeze Law, found in the Texas Business & Commercial Code, effective September 1, 2007. [Recent amendment additions are in CAPS, deletions are indicated by a strikethrough]:

§ 20.034. Requesting Security Freeze
(a) (a) On written request sent by certified mail that includes proper identification provided by a consumer > and a copy of a valid police report, investigative report, or complaint made under Section 32.51, Penal Code  , a consumer reporting agency shall place a security freeze on a consumer's consumer file not later than the fifth business day after the date the agency receives the request.
(b) On written request for a security freeze provided by a consumer under Subsection (a), a consumer reporting agency shall disclose to the consumer the process of placing, removing, and temporarily lifting a security freeze and the process for allowing access to information from the consumer's consumer file for a specific requester or period while the security freeze is in effect.

(c) A consumer reporting agency shall, not later than the 10th business day
after the date the agency receives the request for a security freeze:

(1) send a written confirmation of the security freeze to the consumer; and
(2) provide the consumer with a unique personal identification number or password to be used by the consumer to authorize a removal or temporary lifting of the security freeze under Section 20.037.

(d) A consumer may request in writing a replacement personal identification number or password. The request must comply with the requirements for requesting a security freeze under Subsection (a). The consumer reporting agency shall not later than the third business day after the date the agency receives the request for a replacement personal identification number or password provide the consumer with a new unique personal identification number or password to be used by the consumer instead of the number or password that was provided under Subsection (c).

 

§ 20.035. Notification of Change
If a security freeze is in place, a consumer reporting agency shall notify the consumer in writing of a change in the consumer file to the consumer's name, date of birth, social security number, or address not later than 30 calendar days after the date the change is made. The agency shall send notification of a change of address to the new address and former address. This section does not require notice of an immaterial change, including a street abbreviation change or correction of a transposition of letters or misspelling of a word.

 

§ 20.036. Notification of Security Freeze
A consumer reporting agency shall notify a person who requests a consumer report if a security freeze is in effect for the consumer file involved in that report.

 

§ 20.037. Removal or Temporary Lifting of Security Freeze
(a) On a request in writing or by telephone and with proper identification provided by a consumer, including the consumer's personal identification number or password provided under Section 20.034, a consumer reporting agency shall remove a security freeze not later than the third business day after the date the agency receives the request.

(b) On a request in writing or by telephone and with proper identification provided by a consumer, including the consumer's personal identification number or password provided under Section 20.034, a consumer reporting agency, not later than the third business day after the date the agency receives the request, shall temporarily lift the security freeze for:
(1) a certain properly designated period; or
(2) a certain properly identified requester.

(c) A consumer reporting agency may develop procedures involving the use of a telephone, a facsimile machine, the Internet, or another electronic medium to receive and process a request from a consumer under this section.

(d) A consumer reporting agency shall remove a security freeze placed on a consumer file if the security freeze was placed due to a material misrepresentation of fact by the consumer. The consumer reporting agency shall notify the consumer in writing before removing the security freeze under this subsection.

(e) A consumer reporting agency may not charge a fee for a request under Subsection (a) or (b).

 

§ 20.038. Exemption From Security Freeze
A security freeze does not apply to a consumer report provided to:

(1) a state or local governmental entity, including a law enforcement agency or court or private collection agency, if the entity, agency, or court is acting under a court order, warrant, subpoena, or administrative subpoena;
(2) a child support agency as defined by Section 101.004, Family Code, acting to investigate or collect child support payments or acting under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 651 et seq.);
(3) the Health and Human Services Commission acting under Section 531.102, Government Code;
(4) the comptroller acting to investigate or collect delinquent sales or franchise taxes;
(5) a tax assessor-collector acting to investigate or collect delinquent ad valorem taxes;
(6) a person for the purposes of prescreening as provided by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1681 et seq.), as amended;
(7) a person with whom the consumer has an account or contract or to whom the consumer has issued a negotiable instrument, or the person's subsidiary, affiliate, agent, assignee, prospective assignee, or private collection agency, for purposes related to that account, contract, or instrument;
(8) a subsidiary, affiliate, agent, assignee, or prospective assignee of a person to whom access has been granted under Section 20.037(b);
(9) a person who administers a credit file monitoring subscription service to which the consumer has subscribed;
(10) a person for the purpose of providing a consumer with a copy of the consumer's report on the consumer's request;
(11) a check service or fraud prevention service company that issues consumer reports:
(A) to prevent or investigate fraud; or
(B) for purposes of approving or processing negotiable instruments, electronic funds transfers, or similar methods of payment;
(12) a deposit account information service company that issues consumer reports related to account closures caused by fraud, substantial overdrafts, automated teller machine abuses, or similar negative information regarding a consumer to an inquiring financial institution for use by the financial institution only in reviewing a consumer request for a deposit account with that institution; or
(13) a consumer reporting agency that:
(A) acts only to resell credit information by assembling and merging information contained in a database of another consumer reporting agency or multiple consumer reporting agencies; and
(B) does not maintain a permanent database of credit information from which new consumer reports are produced.

 

§ 20.0385. Applicability of Security Alert and Security Freeze
 (A) The requirement under this chapter to place a security alert or security freeze on a consumer file does not apply to:

(1) a check service or fraud prevention service company that issues consumer reports:

(A) to prevent or investigate fraud; or

(B) for purposes of approving or processing negotiable instruments, electronic funds transfers, or similar methods of payment; or

(2) a deposit account information service company that issues consumer reports related to account closures caused by fraud, substantial overdrafts, automated teller machine abuses, or similar negative information regarding a consumer to an inquiring financial institution for use by the financial institution only in reviewing a consumer request for a deposit account with that institution.

(B) THE REQUIREMENT UNDER THIS CHAPTER TO PLACE A SECURITY FREEZE ON A CONSUMER FILE DOES NOT APPLY TO A CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY THAT:

(1) ACTS ONLY TO RESELL CREDIT INFORMATION BY ASSEMBLING AND MERGING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN A DATABASE OF ANOTHER CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY OR MULTIPLE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES; AND

(2) DOES NOT MAINTAIN A PERMANENT DATABASE OF CREDIT INFORMATION FROM WHICH NEW CONSUMER REPORTS ARE PRODUCED.

(C) NOTWITHSTANDING SECTION 20.12, A VIOLATION OF A REQUIREMENT UNDER THIS CHAPTER TO PLACE, TEMPORARILY LIFT, OR REMOVE A SECURITY FREEZE ON A CONSUMER FILE IS NOT A FALSE, MISLEADING, OR DECEPTIVE ACT OR PRACTICE UNDER SUBCHAPTER E, CHAPTER 17.  

§ 20.039. Respect of Security Freeze

 

§ 20.04. Charges for Certain Disclosures or Services
 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a consumer reporting agency may impose a reasonable charge on a consumer for the disclosure of information pertaining to the consumer or for placing a security freeze on a consumer file, TEMPORARILY LIFTING A SECURITY FREEZE FOR A DESIGNATED PERIOD OR FOR AN IDENTIFIED REQUESTER, OR REMOVING A SECURITY FREEZE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS CHAPTER. The amount of the charge FOR THE DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE CONSUMER may not exceed $ 8. THE AMOUNT OF THE CHARGE FOR PLACING A SECURITY FREEZE ON A CONSUMER FILE, TEMPORARILY LIFTING A SECURITY FREEZE FOR A DESIGNATED PERIOD, OR REMOVING A SECURITY FREEZE MAY NOT EXCEED $ 10 PER REQUEST. THE AMOUNT OF THE CHARGE FOR TEMPORARILY LIFTING A SECURITY FREEZE FOR AN IDENTIFIED REQUESTER MAY NOT EXCEED $ 12 PER REQUEST. On January 1 of each year, a consumer reporting agency may increase the charge for disclosure to a consumer or for placing, TEMPORARILY LIFTING, OR REMOVING a security freeze. The increase, if any, must be based proportionally on changes to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers as determined by the United States Department of Labor with fractional changes rounded to the nearest 50 cents. 
(b) A consumer reporting agency may not charge a fee for:
(1) a request by a consumer for a copy of the consumer's file:
(A) made not later than the 60th day after the date on which adverse action is taken against the consumer; or
(B) made on the expiration of a 45-day security alert;
(2) notification of the deletion of information that is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified sent to a person designated by the consumer, as prescribed by Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1681i), as amended;
(3) a set of instructions for understanding the information presented on the consumer report;
(4) a toll-free telephone number that consumers may call to obtain additional assistance concerning the consumer report or to request a security alert;
(5) a request for a security alert made by a consumer; or
(6) THE PLACEMENT, TEMPORARY LIFTING, OR REMOVAL OF A SECURITY FREEZE AT THE REQUEST OF A CONSUMER WHO HAS SUBMITTED TO THE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY A COPY OF A VALID POLICE REPORT, INVESTIGATIVE REPORT, OR COMPLAINT INVOLVING THE ALLEGED COMMISSION OF AN OFFENSE UNDER SECTION 32.51, PENAL CODE.