District of Columbia Mayor Signs Emergency Legislation Temporarily Prohibiting Credit Freeze Fees

Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Credit Reporting Agency Consumer Finance State Legislation Data Breach Security Freeze

On October 23, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser signed emergency legislation (Act 22 155) that prohibits credit reporting agencies (CRAs) from charging consumers fees for security credit freezes. The Credit Protection Fee Waiver Emergency Amendment Act of 2017 requires CRAs to provide security freeze services and one-time reissuances of passwords or PINs to consumers for free, but permits charging up to $10 for subsequent instances of password or PIN requests. The Act took effect immediately and will remain in effect for a maximum of 90 days.

As previously covered in InfoBytes, a coalition of state attorneys general recently petitioned two major CRAs to cease charging fees for credit freezes.