Credit Freeze and Fraud Alert

Two free federal tools for stopping identity thieves from opening accounts in your name - one that locks your credit file, one that warns lenders to check who they are dealing with.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

A credit freeze (also called a security freeze) restricts access to your credit report at a consumer reporting agency, so that a lender running a credit check on an application in your name is turned away. Since most new accounts cannot be opened without that check, a freeze at each of the three nationwide agencies is the single most effective step against new-account identity theft. It is free, it must be placed and lifted within short statutory timeframes, and it does not affect your credit score or your existing accounts. You lift it - temporarily or for a named lender - when you apply for credit yourself.

A fraud alert is different: your report remains available, but it carries a flag telling any lender to take reasonable steps to verify that the applicant is really you before extending credit. An initial alert can be placed on request and lasts for a fixed period; an extended alert, available to someone who has an identity theft report, lasts for years and also removes you from prescreened credit offers. Placing an alert with one nationwide agency obliges that agency to notify the others.

Both are entitlements, not products. An agency may not charge for a freeze, may not require a subscription or a "lock" service in its place, and must also provide free freezes for a consumer's minor children and for people under a guardianship.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

Placing a freeze or an alert needs no lawyer and should not wait for one. Advice becomes worth having when the theft has already produced accounts, collections or a damaged report - at that point the freeze is the least of it, and the questions are the identity theft report, the blocking of fraudulent information under the same Act, and the disputes with each furnisher.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state to see Identity Theft law firms in its largest listed city; other cities open below it. A state marked “Consumer Rights” has no Identity Theft listing yet and opens the broader page.

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  +1 other city

  • Montgomery
• Alaska (Anchorage, Consumer Rights)
• Arizona (Chandler)
  +6 other cities

  • Gilbert
  • Glendale
  • Mesa
  • Phoenix
  • Scottsdale
  • Tucson
• Arkansas (Little Rock)
• California (Anaheim)
  +19 other cities

  • Bakersfield
  • Chula Vista
  • Fontana
  • Irvine
  • Long Beach
  • Los Angeles
  • Oxnard
  • Riverside
  • San Bernardino
  • San Diego
  • Santa Ana
  • Fremont
  • and 7 smaller
• Colorado (Aurora)
  +2 other cities

  • Colorado Springs
  • Denver
• Connecticut (Bridgeport)
• Delaware (Wilmington, Consumer Rights)
• District of Columbia (Washington)
• Florida (Hialeah)
  +5 other cities

  • Miami
  • Orlando
  • St Petersburg
  • Tampa
  • Jacksonville
• Georgia (Atlanta)
• Hawaii (Honolulu, Consumer Rights)
• Idaho (Boise, Consumer Rights)
• Illinois (Chicago)
• Indiana (Fort Wayne)
  +1 other city

  • Indianapolis
• Iowa (Des Moines)
• Kansas (Wichita, Consumer Rights)
• Kentucky (Lexington)
  +1 other city

  • Louisville
• Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
  +1 other city

  • New Orleans
• Maine (Portland, Consumer Rights)
• Maryland (Baltimore)
• Massachusetts (Boston, Consumer Rights)
• Michigan (Detroit)
• Minnesota (Minneapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Saint Paul
• Mississippi (Jackson, Consumer Rights)
• Missouri (Kansas City)
  +1 other city

  • St. Louis
• Montana (Billings, Consumer Rights)
• Nebraska (Lincoln)
  +1 other city

  • Omaha
• Nevada (Henderson)
  +2 other cities

  • Las Vegas
  • North Las Vegas
• New Hampshire (Manchester)
• New Jersey (Jersey City)
  +1 other city

  • Newark
• New Mexico (Albuquerque)
• New York (Buffalo)
  +2 other cities

  • New York City
  • Rochester
• North Carolina (Charlotte, Consumer Rights)
  +5 other cities

  • Durham
  • Fayetteville
  • Greensboro
  • Raleigh
  • Winston-Salem
• North Dakota (Fargo, Consumer Rights)
• Ohio (Cincinnati)
  +3 other cities

  • Columbus
  • Cleveland
  • Toledo
• Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
  +1 other city

  • Tulsa
• Oregon (Portland)
• Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
  +1 other city

  • Pittsburgh
• Rhode Island (Providence, Consumer Rights)
• South Carolina (Columbia)
• South Dakota (Sioux Falls, Consumer Rights)
• Tennessee (Nashville)
• Texas (Arlington)
  +9 other cities

  • Austin
  • Corpus Christi
  • Dallas
  • Fort Worth
  • Garland
  • Houston
  • Irving
  • Plano
  • San Antonio
• Utah (Salt Lake City, Consumer Rights)
• Vermont (Burlington)
• Virginia (Richmond)
  +3 other cities

  • Norfolk
  • Chesapeake
  • Virginia Beach
• Washington (Seattle)
  +2 other cities

  • Spokane
  • Tacoma
• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
• Wyoming (Cheyenne, Consumer Rights)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• Automatic Renewal and Negative Option SubscriptionsThe federal and state rules on subscriptions that keep charging until you cancel - what a seller must disclose and obtain before enrolling you, the cancellation mechanism it must offer, and where the law currently stands.
• Billing Error Dispute (Credit Card Chargeback)The federal procedure for disputing a charge on a credit card statement - a written process with deadlines on both sides that the card issuer must follow, not a courtesy it may offer.
• Class ActionOne lawsuit brought by named plaintiffs on behalf of a larger group with the same injury.
• Cooling-Off Rule (Canceling a Door-to-Door Sale)The federal right to cancel certain sales made at your home or away from the seller's regular place of business, the notice the seller must give you, and the many sales it does not reach.
• Credit Report DisputeThe federal process for forcing a credit bureau and the company that reported an item to investigate information you say is wrong.
• Data Breach Notification RightsWhat a business must tell you when your personal information is exposed, which laws require it, what the notice must say, and what a person whose data was breached can actually claim.
• Debt Validation Notice and Disputing a DebtThe written notice a debt collector must send when it first contacts you, what it must contain, and the dispute right it opens - during which the collector must stop until it verifies the debt.
• Fair Debt Collection (Collector Conduct Rules)Federal limits on what a third-party debt collector may say and do - including a written demand that stops contact, and a 30-day right to make them verify the debt.
• Gift Card and Prepaid Card RulesThe federal limits on gift card expiration and fees, the state laws that go further, and the separate protections for reloadable prepaid cards used like bank accounts.
• Identity Theft Recovery RightsThe federal rights a victim of identity theft can use to remove fraudulent accounts from a credit report, obtain the records of what the thief did, stop the debts being collected, and limit liability for the charges.
• Implied Warranty and the Magnuson-Moss ActThe promises the law reads into a sale whether or not anyone wrote them down, and the federal act that limits how a seller can take them away.
• Mandatory Arbitration ClauseA term in a consumer contract that sends any dispute to a private arbitrator instead of a court, usually alone rather than as part of a class - and federal law makes most of them enforceable.
• Right of Rescission (Home Loans)A federal right to cancel certain loans secured by your home during a short window after signing - and for much longer if the lender failed to give the required disclosures.
• Robocalls and the TCPAThe federal law that restricts automated and prerecorded calls and texts to your phone, gives you a Do Not Call right, and lets you sue for a fixed amount per illegal call.
• Time-Barred DebtA debt so old that the statute of limitations bars a lawsuit to collect it - what a collector may and may not do about it, how a payment can revive it, and why the credit-reporting clock is a different clock.
• Unauthorized Debit Card and Electronic Transfers (Regulation E)The federal rules that limit a consumer's loss from an unauthorized debit card, ATM, ACH or payment-app transfer, require the bank to investigate an error, and decide who bears a loss the consumer was tricked into sending themselves.
• Unfair and Deceptive Practices (UDAP)The consumer-protection laws, one federal and one in every state, that make it illegal for a business to mislead you or treat you unfairly - and the state versions are the ones a consumer can actually sue under.
• Vehicle RepossessionA lender's right to take back a financed car after default without going to court - subject to rules about how it is taken, how it is sold, and what you can still be made to pay afterwards.
• Wage GarnishmentA legal order requiring an employer to withhold part of someone's pay and send it to a creditor.

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