In a move to help protect consumers from identity theft, both South Carolina and Indiana have made changes to current credit freeze laws – making them free for everyone, rather than just for those who have been victims of identity theft.

47 states offer consumers the ability to freeze their credit, but typically it costs $10 per credit bureau to activate the freeze, and then $10 per credit bureau any time you want to lift the freeze in order to use your own credit.

Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are all required to comply with a freeze request.

Why would you want to freeze your credit?

Because a freeze effectively blocks an identity thief from opening new accounts in your name – even if he or she has access to your social security number, date of birth, and all other personal data.

Any new creditor naturally wants to check your credit, but is unable to do so when the credit report is frozen. This not only blocks the use of your credit, but alerts the would-be creditor that the person seeking credit in your name may not be you.

Once your credit report is frozen, even you can’t access it until you lift the freeze.

Traditionally, “freezing” has been done by mail, but Indiana has made it easier. Indiana consumers can now email or telephone to freeze their credit.

If you are fairly certain that you won’t be needing to seek new credit sources in the near future, credit report freezing can give a layer of protection, and peace of mind.

Identity theft is on the rise – with over 10 million consumers having been victimized in 2008. With the economy in it’s current state, experts believe that the number will continue to rise.

Thieves are still accessing sensitive information by traditional means – stealing wallets, purses, credit cards, postal mail and in-home documents one at a time. But in addition, thieves intent on stealing large blocks of data for re-sale are becoming more and more sophisticated.

The 2008 data breach at Heartland Payment Systems that put well over 100 million credit card holders at risk was accomplished by use of sophisticated technology. A piece of software called a “sniffer” was installed to quietly watch and gather data as it was transferred to the payment processor. No one knows how it was installed, or how long it was there before it was discovered.

As long as thieves stay one step ahead of the companies we trust to keep our data secure, credit freezing is something to seriously consider.

Meanwhile, do check your credit report regularly for any signs of fraudulent activity.

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