Full Text of HB4038 94th General Assembly
HB4038 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006 HB4038
Introduced 2/28/2005, by Rep. David R. Leitch SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Creates the Consumer Credit Report Security Freeze Act. Provides that a consumer may elect to place a security freeze on his or her credit report through sending a written request, by certified mail, to a consumer credit reporting agency. Provides that a consumer credit reporting agency shall place a security freeze on a consumer's credit report, no later than 5 business days after receiving a written request from the consumer and shall send a written confirmation of the security freeze to the consumer within 10 business days. Provides that a consumer credit reporting agency shall remove or temporarily lift a security freeze placed on a consumer's credit report if: (1) the consumer authorizes a release; or (2) the consumer's credit report was frozen due to a material misrepresentation of fact by the consumer. Provides that a consumer credit reporting agency shall notify a person who requests a consumer report or score that a security freeze is in effect. Imposes a reasonable fee on a consumer for placing a security freeze on his or her file. Exempts certain entities from receiving a consumer report with a security freeze or placing a security freeze in a consumer credit report.
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A BILL FOR
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HB4038 |
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LRB094 02447 RXD 32448 b |
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| AN ACT concerning business.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Consumer Credit Report Security Freeze Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Definitions. In this Act: | 7 |
| "Credit report" means any written, oral, or other | 8 |
| communication of any credit information by a credit reporting | 9 |
| agency, as defined in the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, | 10 |
| which operates or maintains a database of consumer credit | 11 |
| information bearing on a consumer's creditworthiness, credit | 12 |
| standing, or credit capacity. | 13 |
| "Credit reporting agency" means any entity or person who, | 14 |
| for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, | 15 |
| regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of | 16 |
| assembling, or evaluating consumer credit information or other | 17 |
| information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer | 18 |
| reports to third parties, and who uses any means or facility of | 19 |
| interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing | 20 |
| consumer reports. For the purposes of this Section, "credit | 21 |
| reporting agency" does not mean a check acceptance service | 22 |
| which provides check approval and guarantees services to | 23 |
| merchants. | 24 |
| "Proper identification" means information generally deemed | 25 |
| sufficient to identify a person. | 26 |
| "Security freeze" means a notice placed on a consumer | 27 |
| credit file, at the request of the consumer and subject to | 28 |
| certain exceptions, which prohibits a consumer credit | 29 |
| reporting agency from releasing the consumer's credit report or | 30 |
| credit score without the express authorization of the consumer. | 31 |
| Section 10. Consumer credit report security freeze. |
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| (a) A consumer may elect to place a security freeze on his | 2 |
| or her credit report through sending a written request, by | 3 |
| certified mail, to a consumer credit reporting agency. | 4 |
| (b) A consumer credit reporting agency shall place a | 5 |
| security freeze on a consumer's credit report, no later than 5 | 6 |
| business days after receiving a written request from the | 7 |
| consumer. | 8 |
| (c) The consumer credit reporting agency shall send a | 9 |
| written confirmation of the security freeze to the consumer | 10 |
| within 10 business days and shall provide the consumer with a | 11 |
| unique personal identification number (PIN) or password to be | 12 |
| used by the consumer for purposes of authorizing access to his | 13 |
| or her credit report for a specific party or period of time. | 14 |
| Additionally, at this time, a consumer credit reporting agency | 15 |
| shall supply the consumer with the agency's written procedures | 16 |
| for placing, removing, and temporarily lifting security | 17 |
| freezes. | 18 |
| (d) A consumer credit reporting agency may issue a | 19 |
| replacement personal identification number (PIN) or password | 20 |
| following a written request by the consumer. A request for a | 21 |
| replacement personal identification number (PIN) or password | 22 |
| must comply with the requirements under subsection (a) of this | 23 |
| Section. The consumer credit reporting agency shall provide the | 24 |
| consumer with a new, unique personal identification number | 25 |
| (PIN) or password to be used by the consumer in place of the | 26 |
| number or password issued to the consumer under subsection (c) | 27 |
| of this Section. The consumer credit reporting agency must | 28 |
| comply with this request no later than 7 business days after | 29 |
| receiving the request from the consumer. | 30 |
| (e) If a security freeze is in place, a consumer credit | 31 |
| reporting agency shall not change any of the following official | 32 |
| information in a consumer credit report without sending a | 33 |
| written confirmation of the change to the consumer within 30 | 34 |
| days of the change being posted to the consumer's file: (1) | 35 |
| name; (2) date of birth; (3) social security number; and (4) | 36 |
| address. Written confirmation is not required for technical |
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| modifications of a consumer's official information, including | 2 |
| name and street abbreviations, complete spellings, or | 3 |
| transposition of numbers or letters. In the case of an address | 4 |
| change, the written confirmation shall be sent to both the new | 5 |
| address and to the former address. | 6 |
| (f) A security freeze shall remain in place until the | 7 |
| consumer requests that the security freeze be removed. A | 8 |
| consumer credit reporting agency shall remove a security freeze | 9 |
| within 3 business days of receiving a request for removal from | 10 |
| the consumer who provides: (1) proper identification; and (2) | 11 |
| the unique personal identification number (PIN) or password | 12 |
| provided by the consumer credit reporting agency pursuant to | 13 |
| subsection (c) of this Section. | 14 |
| Section 15. Temporary lift of security freeze. | 15 |
| (a) If the consumer wishes to authorize release of credit | 16 |
| information for a specific party or period of time while the | 17 |
| freeze is in effect, he or she may do so by contacting the | 18 |
| consumer credit agency, requesting that the freeze be | 19 |
| temporarily lifted, and providing the following information: | 20 |
| (1) proper identification; | 21 |
| (2) the unique personal identification number (PIN) or | 22 |
| password provided by the consumer credit reporting agency; | 23 |
| and | 24 |
| (3) the proper information regarding the third party | 25 |
| recipient of the report or the time period for which the | 26 |
| report shall remain available. | 27 |
| (b) A consumer credit reporting agency that receives a | 28 |
| request from a consumer to temporarily lift a freeze on a | 29 |
| credit report pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section shall | 30 |
| comply with the request no later than 3 business days after | 31 |
| receiving the request. | 32 |
| (c) A consumer credit reporting agency may develop | 33 |
| procedures involving the use of telephone, fax, the Internet, | 34 |
| or other electronic media to receive and process a request from | 35 |
| a consumer to temporarily lift a freeze on a credit report in |
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| an expedited manner. | 2 |
| (d) A consumer credit reporting agency shall remove or | 3 |
| temporarily lift a freeze placed on a consumer's credit report | 4 |
| only in the following cases: | 5 |
| (1) Upon consumer request pursuant to subsection (a) of | 6 |
| this Section; or | 7 |
| (2) If the consumer's credit report was frozen due to a | 8 |
| material misrepresentation of fact by the consumer. If a | 9 |
| consumer credit reporting agency intends to remove a freeze | 10 |
| upon a consumer's credit report pursuant to this paragraph, | 11 |
| the consumer credit reporting agency shall notify the | 12 |
| consumer in writing prior to removing the freeze on the | 13 |
| consumer's credit report. | 14 |
| Section 20. Third party requests. | 15 |
| (a) A consumer credit reporting agency shall notify a | 16 |
| person who requests a consumer report or score that a security | 17 |
| freeze is in effect. | 18 |
| (b) If a third party requests access to a consumer credit | 19 |
| report on which a security freeze is in effect, and this | 20 |
| request is in connection with an application for credit or any | 21 |
| other use, and the consumer does not allow his or her credit | 22 |
| report to be accessed for that specific period of time, the | 23 |
| third party may treat the application as incomplete. | 24 |
| Section 25. Security freeze fee. | 25 |
| (a) A consumer credit reporting agency may impose a | 26 |
| reasonable fee on a consumer for placing a security freeze on | 27 |
| his or her file. This fee may not exceed $10 for each initial | 28 |
| freeze, removal of the freeze, or temporary lift of the freeze | 29 |
| for a specified period of time or for a specific party. | 30 |
| (b) A consumer credit reporting agency may not charge a fee | 31 |
| to: | 32 |
| (1) A victim of identity theft who submits a valid | 33 |
| police or investigative report; or | 34 |
| (2) A consumer who is 62 years of age or older. |
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| Section 30. Exemptions. | 2 |
| (a) A security freeze does not apply to a consumer report | 3 |
| provided to: | 4 |
| (1) Any governmental entity: federal, State, or local | 5 |
| law enforcement, courts, or their agents or assigns. | 6 |
| (2) Any child support enforcement agency. | 7 |
| (3) Any person or entity for the purpose of providing a | 8 |
| consumer with a copy of his or her credit report upon the | 9 |
| consumer's request. | 10 |
| (4) Any person or entity administering a credit file | 11 |
| monitoring service to which the consumer subscribes. | 12 |
| (5) The use of credit information for the purposes of | 13 |
| prescreening as provided under the Federal Fair Credit | 14 |
| Reporting Act. | 15 |
| (6) A private collection agency for the sole purpose of | 16 |
| assisting in the collection of an existing debt of the | 17 |
| consumer who is the subject of the credit report requested. | 18 |
| (7) A subsidiary, affiliate, agent, assignee, or | 19 |
| prospective assignee of a person to whom access has been | 20 |
| granted under subsection (e) of Section 10 for the purposes | 21 |
| of facilitating the extension of credit. | 22 |
| (8) A person or entity, or a subsidiary, affiliate, or | 23 |
| agent of that person or entity, or an assignee of a | 24 |
| financial obligation owing by the consumer to that person | 25 |
| or entity in conjunction with the proposed purchase of the | 26 |
| financial obligation, with which the consumer has or had | 27 |
| prior to assignment of an account or contract, including a | 28 |
| demand deposit account, or to whom the consumer issued a | 29 |
| negotiable instrument, for the purposes of reviewing the | 30 |
| account or collecting the financial obligation owing for | 31 |
| the account, contract, or negotiable instrument. For | 32 |
| purposes of this paragraph, "reviewing the account" | 33 |
| includes activities related to account maintenance, | 34 |
| monitoring, credit line increases, and account upgrades | 35 |
| and enhancements. |
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| (b) The following entities are not required to place a | 2 |
| security freeze in a consumer credit report: | 3 |
| (1) A check services or fraud prevention services | 4 |
| company that issues reports on incidents of fraud or | 5 |
| authorizations for the purpose of approving or processing | 6 |
| negotiable instruments, electronic funds transfers, or | 7 |
| similar methods of payment. | 8 |
| (2) A deposit account information service company that | 9 |
| issues reports regarding account closures due to fraud, | 10 |
| substantial overdrafts, ATM abuse, or similar negative | 11 |
| information regarding a consumer to inquiring banks or | 12 |
| other financial institutions for use only in reviewing a | 13 |
| consumer request for a deposit account at the inquiring | 14 |
| bank or financial institution.
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