by Brian Wolfman
The Washington Post's Michelle Singletary has this interesting article in today's paper on the three national credit bureaus' new policy of allowing consumers to "freeze" access to their credit reports so that identity thieves cannot use the reports to obtain credit under the victims' names. The article explains that obtaining a freeze with the credit bureaus will cost $10 per company or $30 overall, except in states that have credit freeze laws on the books. If you live in one of those states, the cost is much less. For a ton of information on state freeze laws and efforts to get national legislation, go to this website created by Consumers Union. Definitely worth reading.
Gift credit cards are becoming the latest and greatest of all gifts, with visa gift cards being one of the most popular. They are taking the place of money and other forms of gifts everywhere, giving the gift giver, peace of mind and the recipient more freedom of choice. Traditionally, money was the choice gift. After all who didn't like to receive money instead of a gift, they knew they would enjoy it. Gift credit cards, particularly visa gift cards fit this need.
Posted by: Henry Switzer | Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 08:57 PM
Yup. It's about time. I'm guessing after 39 states implemented freeze laws, the credit companies figured they'd better preemptively offer freezes before the rest of the states forced them to do it on worse (for them) terms. It's a good start, but the states should make them cut the fees and require faster and simpler unfreeze procedures.
More information here:
http://www.jeremyduffy.com/top-issues/credit-security-freezes/
Posted by: Jeremy Duffy | Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 08:42 AM