Financial Privacy & Security News

HARRISBURG- It was reported yesterday that 26.5 million U.S. veterans are facing a substantial risk of becoming victims of identity theft because their Social Security numbers were stolen from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee earlier this month. While the public notification of the security breach will enable veterans to monitor their credit reports for criminal activity, the 26.5 million victims lack the ability to prevent the misuse of their personal data. Their only hope is to minimize damage if they can catch the fraudulent use of their data in time.

The Pennsylvania Legislature is considering a bill that would give Pennsylvanians the most effective tool to protect themselves from identity thieves: a security freeze law. Senate Bill 180, sponsored by Senator Jake Corman (representing parts of Centre, Mifflin, and Perry counties) would give consumers the ability to proactively freeze access to their credit reports.

“This is just common sense”, said Jim Swoyer, a Public Interest Advocate with the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG). “Security freezes allow consumers to decide which potential creditors get access to their credit files, preventing imposters from ruining their good names before it happens. Current law does very little to stop identity thieves from ripping us off, leaving consumers to pick up the pieces.”

Security freezes allow consumers to prevent anyone from looking at his or her own credit reporting file for the purposes of granting credit unless they authorize a particular business to do so. When an imposter seeks credit in a consumer’s name, the creditor checks the credit reporting file. If the file is frozen, the creditor will deny the thief’s credit application. Consumers legitimately applying for credit can lift the freeze so particular creditors can see their files. When the consumer is not seeking credit, the security freeze effectively prevents anyone else from getting credit in the consumer’s name.

“We applaud Senator Corman for his leadership on this issue,” continued Swoyer, “He is stepping forward with an effective and sensible way to protect Pennsylvanians from identity theft before it becomes a problem. We urge the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance to release this bill as soon as possible, and we call on the General Assembly to pass it into law. Every day this bill languishes in committee is another day Pennsylvanians are unnecessarily exposed to identity theft.”

The Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG) is a non-profit consumer advocacy group representing 3,500 citizen members across the state. PennPIRG has offices in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.pennpirg.org