To Freeze or Not to Freeze?

Zebulon, NC

It looks like we'll have to cool our heels in NC for some weeks before returning to Florida.  One thing on my to-do list is to investigate credit freezes after the Equifax breach.

In case you didn't hear, the credit reporting company Equifax was hacked to steal 140 million accounts.  That sound like just about everyone in the country who has a credit report.  The stolen data included SSN, DOB, drivers license number and other stuff used to secure credit.   That makes is sound like the entire country should do credit freezes.

Also in case you don't know, a credit freeze blocks only new applications for credit.  It does nothing to change your existing accounts.

But I just found this NYT article on the subject.  It suggests a number of obstacles to getting a credit freeze.  Insecure PIN numbers, crashing web sites, expense, turmoil, overwhelmed customer service people at the credit agencies.  Most important, legislative changes.

The simplest solution is to change the law so that everyone's credit is frozen by default and for free.  Why not?  Why not have the security that every time someone wants to create a new credit account in your name, that the agencies should have to contact you to verify that is is not fraudulent?

So, I'm still interested in getting a credit freeze (how? see this FAQ), but I'm going to wait several weeks to let the turmoil settle.