Rep. Gillmor Introduces Credit Report "Freeze" Bill to Prevent Identity Theft

WASHINGTON, DC- Today, Congressman Paul Gillmor (R-Tiffin) introduced bipartisan legislation to allow Americans to freeze their credit reports. Gillmor’s bill, would allow people to freeze access to their credit reports and prevent identity thieves from fraudulently opening new lines of credit. Gillmor, the Ranking Member of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee, introduced his bill with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the Democrat Chair of his Subcommittee.

“In Ohio and elsewhere, identity theft is no longer an abstract threat. When used wisely, a file freeze is the most powerful way to prevent fraudulent access to credit. This bill will provide all Americans with a significant weapon to protect themselves from con artists and thieves,” Gillmor said. “Just one month ago, a tape containing the social security numbers of close to one million Ohioans was stolen from the car of an intern in the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget. Thankfully most data breaches do not end with sensitive financial information being compromised, but the threat remains very real,” Gillmor continued.

Consumers in 39 states and the District of Columbia currently have the ability to “freeze” access to their credit reports, but there is no tool available in Ohio . Gillmor’s legislation would provide all Ohioans the right to freeze access to their credit reports and creates a central source for interacting with the three national credit bureaus. Similar to work done by Congressman Gillmor during the creation of www.annualcreditreport.com, this website will allow consumers a one-stop-shop for placing a freeze on their file.

Among other provisions, Gillmor’s “file freeze” bill would:

Allow consumers to temporarily thaw and remove their freeze within 15-minutes using the phone or the internet.

Provide a free file freeze option to victims of identity theft and those that have received a notice of a data breach. This would be paid for by the party responsible for the breach.

Give consumers the power to thaw and remove their file freeze for free.

In June, a data tape containing the Social Security numbers of 859,852 Ohioans was stolen from the car of an intern to which it had been entrusted from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget. The data tape also included tax identification numbers, bank account information and other sensitive data for 258,529 business, vendors, school districts, and local governments.

“Identity theft remains one of the biggest worries for consumers in the digital age. Several years ago, the Congress gave every American the right to have access to a free copy of their credit report each year. Now, it is time to give every American the power to limit access to their sensitive information,” Gillmor said.