Press Releases
03/15/2018
AG Jepsen Urges Legislative Committee to End Fees for Credit Freezes in Connecticut
In testimony submitted to the General Assembly's Banks Committee today, Attorney General George Jepsen gave his support to legislation that would prohibit the country's three credit rating agencies from charging fees to place, temporarily lift or remove credit security freezes.
While many states already prohibit fees for security freezes, Connecticut law currently allows the three agencies – TransUnion, Experian and Equifax – to charge fees. Fees are prohibited only in limited circumstances. Because each agency can charge its own, separate fee, and because freezes are required at all three agencies to fully freeze credit, the cost to consumers who want to freeze their credit, but do not fall into an exemption, can be considerable.
"In recent years, a large number of Connecticut consumers have been victims of massive data breaches that exposed their personal information and put them at risk for identity theft," said Attorney General Jepsen. "The massive Equifax data breach – which affects more than 1.5 million Connecticut residents – is a prime example. That breach exposed names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers and some driver's license numbers, all critical information that can be used to steal someone's identity. Yet, when these consumers take steps to protect their credit by seeking security freezes, they're hit again by unfair fees that they should not be forced to shoulder. I'm very pleased that this legislation is under consideration this year, and I hope that the Banks Committee and the entire General Assembly will ultimately support this bill and end these fees for Connecticut residents."
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk), a leading proponent of the legislation and former co-chair of the Banks Committee, today joined Attorney General Jepsen in urging passage of legislation to end these fees.
"Consumers don't choose to have their credit history saved by these companies and it is not right that they would have to pay any company to freeze their credit," said Senator Duff. "The consumers who are punished the most are the ones who can least afford to pay the fee to freeze their credit. This bill will give consumers greater control and flexibility over their credit and will prevent them from being held hostage to fees charged by credit reporting agencies."
The proposed legislation would also give consumers the option of freezing and unfreezing their credit reports in a "one stop" manner, allowing freezes to be filed at all three agencies by filing with just one of them, at the consumer's request, in a similar manners as currently happens with fraud alerts. Additionally, it would require companies that experience a data breach involving Social Security numbers to provide two years of free identity theft protection services to impacted consumers, expanding current law that requires only one year of free services.
The legislation – Senate Bill 472, An Act Concerning Fees for Security Freezes on Credit Reports, Notification of a Consumer's Decision to Place or Remove a Security Freeze on a Credit Report and the Duration of Certain Identity Theft Preventing Services Required After a Data Breach – is currently before the Banks Committee with bipartisan co-sponsorship. The 2018 legislative session adjourns on May 9.
Please click here to view the Attorney General's testimony to the Banks Committee.
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