Some consumers had a hard time understanding the term "fraud alert," as well. Many times, people only fully understand a credit freeze once they're actual victims of ID theft and told that a credit freeze is essential. "It's just assumed that people know what a credit freeze is," said Florian Schaub, U-M assistant professor of information, whose research focuses on security and privacy issues.īut Schaub, 35, said too often "credit freeze" is just swept into the jargon in the industry - jargon that many consumers simply do not understand. If the consumer wants to lift the freeze - for example, to finance a new phone or fridge - that has to happen within an hour. Under the new law, if a consumer asks for a freeze online or by phone, the credit reporting agency has to put the freeze in place no later than the next business day, according to a Federal Trade Commission blog. The consumer who signs up for a voluntary credit freeze is given a PIN - a PIN that you want to keep track of - to use when you want to unfreeze that credit file in order to apply for new credit. Instead, a credit freeze stops many, but not all, businesses and others from reviewing your credit file. Perhaps others remember tips that once suggested putting your credit card in the freezer in a baggie to control spending. Perhaps some consumers associated a freeze with times that credit card issuers send out new cards and stop us from using old ones because the numbers of the old ones have been breached. Yixin Zou, a U-M doctoral student, said she was astonished to hear consumers disclose that they somehow associated a freeze with stopping the use of their own credit cards or limiting their own access to their existing credit cards. Yet there's a not-so-small challenge ahead: Many people may have absolutely no idea what a credit freeze actually is and how it works, according to new research conducted by a team at the University of Michigan School of Information in Ann Arbor.Īmazingly, some consumers wrongly think that a credit freeze stops them from using their own credit cards. Even so, it is a key step for regaining some control over our data. To be sure, the new law is but a minuscule response to the widespread outrage expressed by consumers just a year ago. A child's credit file would be frozen until the child is old enough to use credit.
#Transunion freeze credit file free
21, parents across the country will be able to get a free credit freeze for children under age 16, too.
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