05-24-2018, 02:20 AM
According to CNN, as part of the latest finance bill passed by both the US Senate and House of Representatives, all Americans will finally be able to freeze or unfreeze their personal credit reports without paying a fee to the credit bureaus.
Currently, 46 states allow the big three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Transunion, to charge consumers anywhere from $3 to $10 simply to prevent or allow creditors to access their personal credit reports. Freezing your credit reports is, hands down, the best way to prevent credit-relate identity theft as it completely prevents fraudsters from opening accounts in your name. While $3 to $10 may seem like a small price for such protection, bear in mind that this was not, really, a one-time fee. Each time you freeze or unfreeze a report you must pay the fee. And it must be paid individually to each bureau.
So, for example, it would cost $30 to freeze all three of your credit reports and prevent anyone from opening a new account in your name. Not that big a deal, right? However, imagine that you want to move and your prospective landlord wants to pull your credit. However, if you've frozen your reports they'll be unable to do so, meaning you must unfreeze your reports and pay the unfreeze fee, then refreeze after the landlord has checked and pay the freeze fee once again.
In my experience, most property management companies don't even know which bureau they're going to pull, meaning you'll need to unfreeze (then refreeze) all three major credit bureaus. That's going to cost you $60 of the $10-$50 fee that the landlord charges to run your credit in the first place. Thus, it's cost you an an additional $70-$110 just to apply for an apartment that you may not even end up getting.
Come October, when the new law kicks in, you'll be able to both freeze and unfreeze your reports, essentially at will, for no fee whatsoever. This is a huge boon to both the security and financial well-being of the typical American consumer.
Currently, 46 states allow the big three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Transunion, to charge consumers anywhere from $3 to $10 simply to prevent or allow creditors to access their personal credit reports. Freezing your credit reports is, hands down, the best way to prevent credit-relate identity theft as it completely prevents fraudsters from opening accounts in your name. While $3 to $10 may seem like a small price for such protection, bear in mind that this was not, really, a one-time fee. Each time you freeze or unfreeze a report you must pay the fee. And it must be paid individually to each bureau.
So, for example, it would cost $30 to freeze all three of your credit reports and prevent anyone from opening a new account in your name. Not that big a deal, right? However, imagine that you want to move and your prospective landlord wants to pull your credit. However, if you've frozen your reports they'll be unable to do so, meaning you must unfreeze your reports and pay the unfreeze fee, then refreeze after the landlord has checked and pay the freeze fee once again.
In my experience, most property management companies don't even know which bureau they're going to pull, meaning you'll need to unfreeze (then refreeze) all three major credit bureaus. That's going to cost you $60 of the $10-$50 fee that the landlord charges to run your credit in the first place. Thus, it's cost you an an additional $70-$110 just to apply for an apartment that you may not even end up getting.
Come October, when the new law kicks in, you'll be able to both freeze and unfreeze your reports, essentially at will, for no fee whatsoever. This is a huge boon to both the security and financial well-being of the typical American consumer.