Finally, Texas Legislatures Give Consumers the Silver Bullet Against Identity Theft

The Texas Legislature really got something right. Due to the increased threat of identity theft, they passed a law that gives Texas consumers the greatest possible protection against identity theft.

The Federal Law allows for consumers to freeze their credit files in the event that they have become a victim of identity theft. It is the equivalent of putting a lock on your credit reports. The consumer has to “un-freeze” the credit reports in order to gain access. A lender cannot check your credit with a credit freeze in place.

Thus, traditional identity theft is almost impossible.

The Federal Law states that the consumer has to present a police report in order for this to take place.

State legislatures are allowed to change the law in their state. Thus far, 34 other states have found the Federal Legislation on identity theft ridiculous because everyone should have the right without cause to lock up their credit reports and keep them private.

Now, Texas has passed this very consumer friendly provision. In Texas, you can now place a credit freeze on all 3 credit reports and prevent anyone from checking your credit. If you need to apply for credit, you would simply “un-freeze” the reports.

This has to be done individually with all 3 credit reporting agencies. What is the downside? It does take away the ability to buy something on credit at a moment’s notice. However, that is not such a bad thing. There is also a cost associated with this process. You might pay up to $10 for locking and unlocking your credit file.

Does that mean that by freezing your credit, identity theft cannot happen? As advanced as ID thieves are in stealing identities, I would never assume that it could not happen. I would still have your credit monitored by a good credit monitoring company such as http://www.truecredit.com/.