ALTON – To help the millions of Illinois residents who are dealing with the aftermath of the security breach at Equifax, state Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, supported legislation to eliminate unfair fees charged to consumers to freeze their credit.
“We all know someone who was impacted by the Equifax security breach,” Beiser said. “Many people immediately froze their credit to prevent identity thieves from using their information to get credit cards, access bank accounts and more. However, by doing this, anytime they need to apply for a loan or credit card they will have to unfreeze and freeze their credit. This legislation will waive those fees and make it easier for people to protect themselves from identity theft.”
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Equifax first reported that hackers had obtained the personal information of 143 million Americans, but recently informed the public that an additional 2.5 million people had their data stolen. In Illinois, estimated 5.4 million people were impacted by this data breach. As a result, people across the state are working to secure their personal information, bank accounts and credit information.
Beiser voted last week to pass House Bill 4095, which would prevent credit agencies from charging customers a fee for freezing their credit.
“When a big corporation that makes billions of dollars collecting our personal information can’t keep that information secure, it shouldn’t be on us to pay to clean up their mess,” Beiser said. “This is an important change that make it less costly for people trying to protect their finances.”
For more information, please contact Beiser’s constituent service office at 618-465-5900.
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