![]() ![]() Those consumers thought that scammers would target people who were more affluent. Many times, particularly lower-income consumers wrongly believe that they have little reason to worry and don't really need to protect their data after a breach, according to the U-M researchers. The watchdog group released a report called "Equifax: 1 Year Later" to help consumers understand what steps to take to protect themselves. "This may not be the biggest breach ever, but it's the worst, because Equifax's carelessness made it easier for bad guys to steal the identities of nearly 150 million consumers," Litt said in a statement Thursday. PIRG's consumer campaign director, said consumers still need to safeguard their information a year after the Equifax data breach. "What makes them money is sharing our credit reports with other businesses." Everyone has something to lose "We, as citizens, are not their customers," Schaub said. After all, their business model is to collect and aggregate our information to provide to lenders who want to sell us loans. Schaub said the credit bureaus don't have much incentive to carefully explain things like credit freezes or fraud alerts. This is a free freeze.īut all that jargon - freezes, locks, alerts - can truly confuse consumers who are already overwhelmed in their financial lives. We're not talking about buying some service or signing up for some credit lock product that might have certain strings and conditions, as well as a fee. If a victim of identity theft, you'd still be able to extend a fraud alert for seven years. Under the new law, a fraud alert will last one year, instead of 90 days. Instead, placing a fraud alert on your credit file actually means that you're adding a red flag, if you will, to your credit report to alert a lender to carefully verify your identity before making a loan. Some thought the alerts were when a bank or credit union would text you when fraudulent activity was detected on your account. 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. 21, parents across the country will be able to get a free credit freeze for children under age 16, too. ![]()
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