THEY make money with YOUR INFORMATION

Credit Report Letter on Clipboard

This page will be talking about different things in link with freedom and the USA. Most people think and/or view the USA as a place of freedom. This is a common missinterpretation. Actually the UK is certainly free-er... at least in regard to freedom of speech.

In any country, if you get some very sensitive information, just don't publish it publicly. Information about terrorists or industrial spying can cost you a lot.

Now there is a new kind of information which was setup a while back to protect creditors. Note that I'm saying creditors and not people. In case you didn't know, creditors are not people anyway.

So? What did they create? Wanna guess? I'll tell you: Your Credit Score! If you are good and lucky not to be affected by identity theft, then you will automatically have a high credit score. Whatever happens and you get a 0. Then bye bye credit. Not like you should really need credit, most people die in debts today and that's the kids who have to pay for it. But the problem is not whether you have credit or not. The problem is if you exist in the USA you have to be registered with these people and there is no choice. Ho! Sorry...

We are always given a choice. You can leave the country. That will cost you one plane ticket. Period. If you are in the right state, you can also choose to pay all of the major credit record companies so they don't release your information. Sorry! Actually, if you have been stolen it's free. What?!

Wait a minute... I went on this website:

http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns//learn_more/003484indiv.html [broken link now]

This site is very informative. It lists the states which offer a freeze on your credit information. I repeat: YOUR CREDIT INFORMATION. Ha! There we are! Look at it, it is not free. You have to pay so they don't release YOUR CREDIT INFORMATION. So in other words, you do not own your credit information. And not only that, they make big bucks with it! The largest such compagnies have a turn over of 1 to 3 billion a year.

Note that the states not listed in the table below are just not offering any specific protection of the sort (they may have other protections though). This means you certainly can request to have some protection, but the agencies may charge you whatever and not really honor your request and they would have no legal problem (and you know... companies making billions a year...)

But before to read what follows, a few other numbers. The US is losing, because of these agencies (yes! because of them and not because of you or your neighbor nor even the thieves!):

 

US $ 48 billion (business)
US $ 5 billion (personal)
US $ 53 billion (total)

 

What I'm wondering now is: how much are the banks saving by using these services?! $1 or $2 billions? Probably $10 billion maximum. Okay, so we, consumers, have to pay $53 billion to crooks so banks can save $10 billion. Who does not understand that?!

Yet another number: every year we now have close to 10 million people who fall in the Victims category. Imagine that only adults are affected. According to the Wold Fact Book we have 298,444,215 people in the US. 67.2% are between 15 and 64 (12.5% are over 64). This means roughly 200,555,000 adults. In other words:

Close to 5% of the population has been affected by identity theft.

What is the gouvernment doing about it? Nothing. Why? Because you have 3 giant companies making roughly 5 billion dollars a year together in selling YOUR CREDIT INFORMATION. You cannot just ask them to shutdown. The only real way to avoid these thieves. Ho! Well... another way would be to have a diffenrent "social security" number for each different matter that you need to address. Thus, you could have a credit card identity number, a morgage identity number, a medical identity number, a social security number, a tax identification number... well... maybe we ought to find a different way to manage money that does not let crooks access the info. Not possible today it looks like. Companies have been exposing thousands of records, when not hundred of thousands!

State Since Civil Code More info
California January 1, 2003 1785.11.2-1785.11.6 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: $12 $12 $12 $12
Removal: $10 $10 $10 $10
Colorado July 1, 2006 SB 05-137 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: 1st free
then $10
1st free
then $10
1st free
then $10
1st free
then $10
Temporary Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: $12 $12 $12 $12
Removal: $10 $10 $10 $10
Connecticut July 1, 2006 SB 650 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: $12 $12 $12 $12
Removal: $10 $10 $10 $10
Delaware September 28, 2006
or October 9, 2006
SB 109 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: $20 $20 $20 $20
Unfreeze: Free Free Free Free
Temporary Unfreeze: Free Free Free Free
One Creditor Check: Free Free Free Free
Removal: Free Free Free Free
Florida July 1, 2006 HB 37 BillNumber=0037&Session=2006
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: $10 $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: $10 $10 $10 $10
Removal: $10 $10 $10 $10
Hawaii January 1, 2007 HB 1871 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Temporary Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
One Creditor Check: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Removal: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Illinois Only victims until
January 1, 2007
815 ILCS 505/2MM 094-0799
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $10 $10 $10
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10
Kansas January 1, 2007 SB 196 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Temporary Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
One Creditor Check: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Removal: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Kentucky January 1, 2007 HB 54 HB54.htm
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free for 7 years $10 for 7 years $10 for 7 years $10 for 7 years
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $10 $10 $10
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10
Louisiana January 1, 2007 9.3571(H) to (Y) n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free Free (62+) $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free Free (62+) $8 $8
Temporary Unfreeze: Free Free $8 $8
One Creditor Check: Free Free $8 $8
Removal: Free Free $8 $8
Maine February 1, 2006 10 MRSA ¶1313-C n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $12 $12 $12
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10
Minnesota August 1, 2006 Senate Bill 2002.4.ls84 2002.4.ls84
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $12 $12 $12
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10
Nevada October 1, 2005 NRS 598C n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $15 $15 $15
Unfreeze: Free $18 $18 $18
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $18 $18 $18
One Creditor Check: Free $20 $20 $20
Removal: Free $18 $18 $18
New Hampshire January 1, 2007 SB 334 SB0334.html
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $10 $10 $10
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10
New Jersey January 1, 2006 S2000/1914-R1 1914_R1.PDF
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free Free Free Free
Unfreeze: $5 $5 $5 $5
Temporary Unfreeze: $5 $5 $5 $5
One Creditor Check: $5 $5 $5 $5
Removal: $5 $5 $5 $5
New York November 1, 2006 AB 7349 bn=A07349
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free 1st free 1st free 1st free
Unfreeze: $5 $5 $5 $5
Temporary Unfreeze: $5 $5 $5 $5
One Creditor Check: $5 $5 $5 $5
Removal: $5 $5 $5 $5
North Carolina1 December 1, 2005 NC. GS. 75-63 chapter_75/gs_75-63.pdf
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free 1st free 1st free 1st free
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $10 $10 $10
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10
1 There is a special case for veterans who received a notice of breach from the department of veteran affairs until Jan 1, 2007. It is free for them to place an order.
Oklahoma January 1, 2007 SB 1748 http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Removal: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Rhode Island January 1, 2007 H7148 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
Removal: Free Free (65+) $10 $10
South Dakota July 1, 2006 SB 180 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free/7 years n.a. n.a. n.a.
Unfreeze: n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Temporary Unfreeze: n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
One Creditor Check: n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Removal: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Texas2 July 1, 2006 TITLE 2, Chapter 20 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: $8/year Free (60+) $8/year $8/year
Unfreeze: $8/year Free (60+) $8/year $8/year
Temporary Unfreeze: $8/year Free (60+) $8/year $8/year
One Creditor Check: $8/year Free (60+) $8/year $8/year
Removal: $8/year Free (60+) $8/year $8/year
2 Texas has special laws to allow for security alerts and some other security measures. Security alerts can be held for 45 days and then transformed into a freeze for free.
Utah September 1, 2008 13-45-102, 13-45-201 et seq., SB71 sb0071.htm
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free no max. no max. no max.
Unfreeze: Free no max. no max. no max.
Temporary Unfreeze: Free no max. no max. no max.
One Creditor Check: Free no max. no max. no max.
Removal: Free no max. no max. no max.
Vermont July 1, 2006 Title 9, Sections 2480a to 2480j ACT155.HTM
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Temporary Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
One Creditor Check: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Removal: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Washington July 24, 2005 Chapter 342, Sec. 19.182 RCW n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Temporary Unfreeze: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
One Creditor Check: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Removal: Free n.a. n.a. n.a.
Wisconsin January 1, 2007 AB 912 n.a.
   Victims   Seniors   Veterans   Others 
Freeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
Temporary Unfreeze: Free $10 $10 $10
One Creditor Check: Free $10 $10 $10
Removal: Free $10 $10 $10

 

Photo by Nick Youngson