101 
‘‘(i) making a request in writ-
ing by certified mail to the con-
sumer reporting agency; 
‘‘(ii) submitting an identity 
theft report to the consumer re-
porting agency; and 
‘‘(iii) providing such evidence 
of the identity of the consumer as 
such consumer reporting agency 
may require under paragraph (5). 
‘‘(B) 
PROMPT
IMPOSITION
OF 
FREEZE.—A consumer reporting agency 
shall place a security freeze on a cred-
it report on a consumer no later than 
5 business days after receiving a writ-
ten request from the consumer in ac-
cordance with subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(C) EFFECT OF FREEZE.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Except as 
otherwise provided in this sub-
section, if a security freeze is in 
place with respect to any con-
sumer, information from the con-
sumer’s credit report may not be 
released by the consumer report-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:49 Jun 03, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00101
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6204
E:\BILLS\H4127.RH
H4127
bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
102 
ing agency or reseller to any third 
party, 
including 
another 
con-
sumer reporting agency or re-
seller, without the prior express 
authorization from the consumer 
or as otherwise permitted in this 
section. 
‘‘(ii) ADVISING OF EXISTENCE OF 
SECURITY FREEZE.—Clause (i) shall 
not be construed as preventing a 
consumer reporting agency or re-
seller from advising a third party 
that a security freeze is in effect 
with respect to the credit report on 
the consumer. 
‘‘(D) CONFIRMATION OF FREEZE; AC-
CESS
CODE.—Any consumer reporting 
agency that receives a consumer re-
quest for a security freeze in accord-
ance with subparagraph (A) shall— 
‘‘(i) send a written confirma-
tion of the security freeze to the 
consumer within 10 business days 
of placing the freeze; and 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:49 Jun 03, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00102
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6204
E:\BILLS\H4127.RH
H4127
bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
103 
‘‘(ii) at the same time, provide 
the consumer with a unique per-
sonal identification number or 
password (other than the Social 
Security account number of any 
consumer) to be used by the con-
sumer when providing authoriza-
tion for the release of the credit 
report of the consumer to a spe-
cific party or for a specific period 
of time. 
‘‘(3) ACCESS
PURSUANT
TO
CONSUMER 
AUTHORIZATION DURING SECURITY FREEZE.— 
‘‘(A) NOTICE BY CONSUMER.—If the 
consumer wishes to allow the credit 
report on the consumer to be accessed 
by a specific party or for a specific pe-
riod of time while a freeze is in place, 
the consumer shall— 
‘‘(i) contact the consumer re-
porting agency in any manner the 
agency may provide; 
‘‘(ii) request that the security 
freeze be temporarily lifted; and 
‘‘(iii) provide— 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:49 Jun 03, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00103
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6204
E:\BILLS\H4127.RH
H4127
bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
104 
‘‘(I) proper identification; 
‘‘(II) the unique personal 
identification number or pass-
word provided by the con-
sumer reporting agency pursu-
ant to paragraph (2)(D)(ii); 
and 
‘‘(III) the proper informa-
tion regarding the third party 
who is to receive the credit re-
port or the time period for 
which the report shall be 
available to users of the credit 
report. 
‘‘(B) TIMELY RESPONSE REQUIRED.— 
A consumer reporting agency that re-
ceives a request from a consumer to 
temporarily lift a security freeze on a 
credit report in accordance with sub-
paragraph (A) shall comply with the 
request no later than 3 business days 
after receiving the request. 
‘‘(C) PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTS.— 
A consumer reporting agency may de-
velop procedures involving the use of 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:49 Jun 03, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00104
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6204
E:\BILLS\H4127.RH
H4127
bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
105 
telephone, fax, or, upon the consent of 
the consumer in the manner required 
by the Electronic Signatures in Global 
and National Commerce Act for no-
tices legally required to be in writing, 
by the Internet, e-mail, or other elec-
tronic medium to receive and process 
a request from a consumer to tempo-
rarily lift a security freeze on a credit 
report pursuant to subparagraph (A) 
in an expedited manner. 
‘‘(4) LIFTING
OR
REMOVING
SECURITY 
FREEZE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer re-
porting agency may remove or tempo-
rarily lift a security freeze placed on a 
credit report on a consumer only in 
the following cases: 
‘‘(i) Upon receiving a con-
sumer request for a temporary lift 
of the security freeze in accord-
ance with paragraph (3)(A). 
‘‘(ii) Upon receiving a con-
sumer request for the removal of 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:49 Jun 03, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00105
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6204
E:\BILLS\H4127.RH
H4127
bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
106 
the security freeze in accordance 
with subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(iii) Upon a determination by 
the consumer reporting agency 
that the security freeze was im-
posed on the credit report due to a 
material misrepresentation of fact 
by the consumer. 
‘‘(B) NOTICE TO CONSUMER OF DE-
TERMINATION.—If a consumer report-
ing agency makes a determination de-
scribed in subparagraph (A)(iii) with 
a respect to a security freeze imposed 
on the credit report on any consumer, 
the consumer reporting agency shall 
notify the consumer of such deter-
mination in writing prior to removing 
the security freeze on such credit re-
port. 
‘‘(C) REMOVING SECURITY FREEZE.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Except as 
provided in this subsection, a se-
curity freeze shall remain in place 
until the consumer requests that 
the security freeze be removed. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:49 Jun 03, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00106
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6204
E:\BILLS\H4127.RH
H4127
bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS