Credit report freeze bill makes it through House committee
The Georgia Legislature will get another crack at allowing consumers to restrict access to their credit reports to help prevent identity theft.
The House Banks and Banking Committee approved HB 130 on Monday, teeing it up for a floor vote sometime later this week. It would allow consumers to place a "freeze" on their credit report for a fee. A freeze bars businesses or others from getting a copy of the report without the consumer's consent. The purpose is to prevent someone from trying to obtain credit cards, mortgages, jobs or apartments by fraudulently using another person's credit report.
If the bill is enacted, Georgia would join 39 other states that already have file freezes.
But the Georgia measure comes after all three of the major credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian — late last year began allowing customers to freeze their reports. All three charge consumers $10 each whenever a consumer wants to freeze or unfreeze their credit reports.
The Georgia measure would set the fee at $10 as well, but Georgia Watch, a consumer advocacy group, says it is excessive. Georgia Watch cites Cornell University research that suggests it only costs credit bureaus $1 every time a customer wants to freeze or unfreeze his or her account.
And even though the credit bureaus voluntarily offer file freezes, they could choose to end it at anytime, said Holly Lang, a spokeswoman for the organization, which otherwise backs the bill.
Georgia Watch wanted the bill amended to lower the fee to $5, but the subcommittee didn't change it.
But the bill would mandate that a file be unfrozen within 15 minutes — which would be a first in the country — and it would cap fines of credit bureaus at $10,000.
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