How You Can Help

Call To Stop Identity Theft 

Please take a moment to call your representatives to tell them to support credit freeze legislation so that Georgians have the opportunity to protect themselves from identity theft.

Overview

Since February 2005, Choicepoint, Bank of America, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Cardsystems, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other companies and agencies have disclosed that they’ve lost the confidential financial information of over 90 million Americans. We learned about these security breaches only due to a pioneering California notice breach law that companies complied with nationwide, while other states began to pass their own laws.

Easy availability of confidential financial information, coupled with sloppy credit-granting practices by creditors and credit bureaus, makes it easy for identity thieves to open accounts in our name.

Security freezes give consumers real control over access to their credit report. A freeze prevents new creditors from accessing your credit report. This closes the loophole that identity thieves exploit, as most businesses will not issue new credit or loans without first reviewing a credit report. California enacted the first freeze law in 2001, and today 39 states and the District of Columbia have enacted credit freeze laws.

Georgia remains one of only 11 states that has not provided consumers with this important protection. Three credit freeze bills were introduced during the 2007 legislative session (HB 35, HB 38, and HB 130). Lobbyists for the Credit Reporting Agencies are lobbying to charge consumers 10 times the cost to the company to freeze or thaw access to a credit report. It is crucial that the General Assembly passes a strong bill that places the needs of the consumer first by providing a 15 minute thaw and a free thaw and freeze.