Beginning tomorrow (9/21) the three credit bureaus will be required to offer consumers the option to freeze their credit free of charge in the event of a security breach or identity theft concern. U-M experts can comment on the new law.
Florian Schaub is assistant professor of information and electrical engineering and computer science. He studies privacy, human-computer interaction, mobile and ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things. Schaub and School of Information graduate student Yixon Zou recently authored research on the Equifax data breach that showed, among other things, that consumers didn’t understand what a credit freeze was and some did not use it due to cost.
“The law is a step in the right direction but doesn’t go far enough because consumers must still go to the three separate credit bureaus to place the freeze. It would have been better and less confusing to have one action freeze all three at once. The law also should allow consumers to access their credit reports free at any time, not just once a year.”
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