State Credit Freeze Laws Need a Reboot

The Equifax breach showed why the federal government should replace outdated and overused Social Security numbers with a modern digital equivalent. But as Daniel Castro writes for Government Technology, it also highlighted states’ failure to protect consumers, as state laws for obtaining security freezes on credit reports too often put credit agencies’ interests first. In the absence of federal action, states should allow consumers to freeze and unfreeze their credit at no cost; impose time limits on how long credit bureaus can take to unlock credit reports; and consider freezing reports by default.