CONSUMERS UNION URGES CONGRESS & STATE LEGISLATURES
TO ADOPT IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTIONS

The Federal Trade Commission reports that identity theft is the leading consumer fraud complaint tracked by law enforcement agencies across the country. An estimated 9.9 million people fall victim to identity theft each year. To help address the growing tide of identity theft, lawmakers in Congress and state legislators should:

• Require that law enforcement take police reports from identity theft victims where the victim lives, even if the criminal operates from another jurisdiction.
  
  
• Increase penalties on creditors who do not verify the identity of the applicant or who extend credit without investigation when there is a fraud alert on the account.
  
  
• Strengthen penalties for companies that fail to maintain the security of personal financial information they've collected from customers.
  
  
• Require companies to notify their own customers when the security of financial information they collect or hold has been compromised.
  
• Allow consumers to freeze their credit reports so thieves cannot have additional credit extended. California and Texas adopted this protection. Consumers also need reasonable fee caps on the cost of placing and lifting the freeze, with no fee for identity theft victims.
  
  
• Restrict the commercial use of Social Security numbers as identification numbers. California and Texas have passed such restrictions.
  
  
• Require credit reporting agencies to notify consumers when there is a request for a change of address, when new credit accounts are added to the credit file, and when the number of inquiries in a short period of time exceeds a preset threshold. Multiple inquires can occur when an imposter attempts to obtain credit in the name of a consumer.
  
  
• Require credit reporting agencies to provide consumers who are ID theft victims with monthly a free copy of each credit report for one year. This will help victims to be sure bad information does not reappear.
  
  
• Stop credit card companies from sending unsolicited credit card checks, which can be cashed by an identity thief.
  
  
• Give consumers more control over the sharing of personal financial information among companies, including affiliates.
  For tips on how to reduce your chances of becoming a victim and links on what to do if ID theft happens to you, see http://www.consumersunion.org/finance/id-theft03.htm.

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