SALEM—
The Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 583, the Oregon Consumer
Identity Theft Prevention Act, to improve the safeguarding of personal
information and give consumers increased protections.
“Victims of identity theft spend thousands of dollars and
countless hours trying to restore their good names,” said Laura
Etherton, OSPIRG consumer advocate, “This bill is a good step forward
to protect consumers.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Oregon ranks 13th
in the nation for identity theft. Fueling this trend is the ease with
which thieves can get their hands on personal information, and how
easily they can use that information to open new fraudulent credit
accounts.
Senate Bill 583 gives Oregonians the right control access to their own
credit reports through a security freeze, to stop identity thieves from
opening fraudulent accounts. The bill also requires the safeguarding of
personal data, limits the display of social security numbers, and
requires consumers be notified if they are at risk due to a security
breach of their information.
“Consumers will gain more control over who has access to their credit
reports,” said Etherton, “With this bill, Oregon joins dozens of other
states in helping consumers protect themselves from identity theft.”
Many victims find out months or years later that a thief has
opened a new credit card, signed up for a new cell phone plan, or
opened another new account in the victim’s name. The Federal Trade
Commission estimates a thief absconds with more $10,000 through each
incidence of new account fraud.
Senate Bill 583 helps prevent this type of identity theft by giving
Oregonians the right to a security freeze. A Security Freeze is the
right to control access your own consumer report by protecting it with
a passcode, similar to an ATM PIN.
The freeze works like this: A potential creditor won't issue credit
without reviewing a consumer’s consumer report or credit score. If only
the actual consumer can grant access to the credit report, thieves are
blocked from opening a new account.
The Oregon bill allows the Credit Reporting Agencies (Equifax,
TransUnion, and Experian) to charge consumers a maximum of $10 to place
the freeze, and each time consumers want to temporarily lift the freeze
to apply for credit.
OSPIRG, which served on the interim stakeholder workgroup that
negotiated the bill, believes the bill is on balance a positive step
forward for consumers, but will continue monitoring the problem of
identity theft, and implementation of the protections.
