407.1382. Security freeze may be requested, when--fee--agency duties--furnishing a credit report after freeze prohibited, exceptions--lifting of freeze, when--permanent removal, when--fee--notice.
Security freeze may be requested, when--fee--agency duties--furnishinga credit report after freeze prohibited, exceptions--lifting offreeze, when--permanent removal, when--fee--notice.
407.1382. 1. A consumer may request that a consumer credit reportingagency place a security freeze on that consumer's credit report, if thatrequest is made:
(1) In writing, where delivery by standard U.S. Postal Service mailservice shall be sufficient; or
(2) By other reliable means, including, but not limited to, Internet,telephone, facsimile, or other electronic means if any such other means areprovided by the consumer credit reporting agency; and
(3) Proper identification is presented to adequately identify therequestor as the consumer subject to the credit report.
2. A consumer credit reporting agency shall honor a consumer'srequest for a security freeze within five business days of receipt of suchrequest. A consumer credit reporting agency may assess a fee of up to fivedollars for the first request by a consumer to place a security freeze, andup to ten dollars for any subsequent request to place a security freezemade by the same consumer, except that at no time shall a fee be assessedfor a request to place a security freeze if the request is accompanied byan incident report as defined under section 570.222, RSMo.
3. A consumer credit reporting agency shall, within ten business daysof placing a security freeze on the consumer's credit report, send theconsumer:
(1) Written confirmation of compliance with the consumer's request;
(2) Instructions explaining the process of placing, temporarilylifting, or permanently removing a security freeze and the process forallowing access to information from the consumer's credit report for aspecific requestor or period of time;
(3) A unique personal identification number or password to be used bythe consumer to temporarily lift or permanently remove the security freezeor designate a specific requestor for receipt of the credit report despitethe security freeze.
4. A consumer credit reporting agency shall not furnish a creditreport to any person if the consumer who is subject to the credit reporthas requested a security freeze be placed on that report unless the creditreport:
(1) Is requested by the consumer who is subject to the report;
(2) Is furnished under a court order;
(3) Is furnished during a period in which the consumer hastemporarily lifted the freeze;
(4) Is requested for the purposes of prescreening as provided by theFair Credit Reporting Act under 15 U.S.C. 1681, et seq.;
(5) Is requested by a child support enforcement agency;
(6) Is requested for use in setting or adjusting a rate,underwriting, adjusting a claim, or servicing a policy for insurancepurposes;
(7) Is requested by a specific person, or the subsidiary, affiliate,agent, or assignee of such person, whom the consumer has identified aseligible for receipt of the credit report under subsection 6 of thissection, despite the consumer's request for a security freeze;
(8) Is furnished to a person, or the subsidiary, affiliate, agent, orassignee of such person, with whom the consumer has a debtor-creditorrelationship for the purpose of account review or collecting the financialobligation owing for the account contract or debt;
(9) Is requested by the state or its agents or assigns for thepurpose of investigating fraud or investigating or collecting delinquenttaxes to the extent consistent with a permissible purpose under 15 U.S.C.1681; or
(10) Is requested by a person or entity administering a credit filemonitoring service or similar service to which the consumer has subscribed.
5. If a security freeze is in place, a consumer credit reportingagency shall not change any of the following official information in aconsumer credit report without sending a written confirmation of the changeto the consumer within thirty days of the change being posted to theconsumer's file: name, date of birth, Social Security number, and address.Written confirmation is not required for technical modifications of aconsumer's official information, including name and street abbreviations,complete spellings, or transposition of numbers or letters. In the case ofan address change, the written confirmation shall be sent to both the newaddress and to the former address.
6. A consumer may request that the consumer credit reporting agencytemporarily lift a security freeze for a specific requestor or period oftime despite the consumer request for a security freeze under subsection 1of this section, if that request is made:
(1) In writing, where delivery by standard U.S. Postal Service mailservice shall be sufficient; or
(2) By other reliable means, including, but not limited to, Internet,telephone, facsimile, or other electronic means if any such other means areprovided by the consumer credit reporting agency; and
(3) Proper identification is presented to adequately identify therequestor as the consumer subject to the credit report, which shall includethe unique personal identification number or password issued to theconsumer under subsection 3 of this section; and
(4) The time period is specified for which the freeze shall betemporarily lifted.
7. (1) A consumer credit reporting agency shall temporarily lift asecurity freeze within fifteen minutes of receiving such a request from aconsumer, if that request is received during normal business hours and ismade in accordance with subdivisions (2), (3), and (4) of subsection 6 ofthis section. If such a lift request is received outside of normalbusiness hours, the consumer credit reporting agency shall lift thesecurity freeze within fifteen minutes of the start of the next normalbusiness day.
(2) A consumer credit reporting agency shall temporarily lift asecurity freeze within three days of receiving such a request from aconsumer, if that request is made in accordance with subdivisions (1), (3),and (4) of subsection 6 of this section.
(3) The time frame in which a consumer credit reporting agency shallcomply with a request to lift a security freeze under this subsection maybe extended in the event of an act of God, an unauthorized or illegal actby a third party, operational interruption due to electrical failure orhardware or software failure, government action, or reasonable unexpectedmaintenance of the agency's systems, provided that the lifting of asecurity freeze shall occur within a reasonable time after resumption ofnormal business operations.
8. A consumer credit reporting agency shall permanently remove asecurity freeze within three days of receiving such a request from aconsumer, if that request is made:
(1) In writing, where delivery by standard U.S. Postal Service mailservice shall be sufficient; or
(2) By reliable means, including, but not limited to, Internet,telephone, facsimile, or other electronic means if any such other means areprovided by the consumer credit reporting agency; and
(3) Proper identification is presented to adequately identify therequestor as the consumer subject to the credit report, which shall includethe unique personal identification number or password issued to theconsumer under subsection 3 of this section.
9. A consumer credit reporting agency may assess a fee of up to fivedollars to temporarily lift a security freeze, except that at no time shalla fee be assessed for a request to temporarily lift a security freeze thatwas placed in conjunction with an incident report under subsection 2 ofthis section. No fee shall be assessed for a request to permanently removea security freeze.
10. At any time a consumer is required to receive a summary of rightsunder 15 U.S.C. Section 1681g(d), the following notice shall be included:"Missouri Consumers Have the Right to Obtain a Security Freeze.
You have a right to place a "security freeze" on your credit report,which will prohibit a consumer credit reporting agency from releasinginformation in your credit report without your express authorization. Asecurity freeze must be requested in writing by mail or via other approvedmethods. The security freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, andservices from being approved in your name without your consent. However,you should be aware that using a security freeze to take control over whogets access to the personal and financial information in your credit reportmay delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of anysubsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit,mortgage, government services or payments, rental housing, employment,investment, license, cellular phone, utilities, digital signature, Internetcredit card transaction, or other services, including an extension ofcredit at point of sale. When you place a security freeze on your creditreport, you will be provided a personal identification number or passwordto use if you choose to remove the freeze on your credit report orauthorize the release of your credit report for a period of time after thefreeze is in place. To provide that authorization you must contact theconsumer credit reporting agency and provide all of the following:
(1) The personal identification number or password;
(2) Proper identification to verify your identity;
(3) The proper information regarding the period of time for which thereport shall be available.
A consumer credit reporting agency must authorize the release of yourcredit report no later than fifteen minutes after receiving the aboveinformation, under certain circumstances.
A security freeze does not apply to a person or entity, or itsaffiliates, or collection agencies acting on behalf of the person orentity, with which you have an existing account, that requests informationin your credit report for the purposes of reviewing or collecting theaccount. Reviewing the account includes activities related to accountmaintenance, monitoring, credit line increases, and account upgrades andenhancements.
You have a right to bring civil action against anyone, including aconsumer credit reporting agency, who improperly obtains access to a file,knowingly misuses file data, or fails to correct inaccurate file data.".
(L. 2008 H.B. 1384 and H.B. 2157)