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03/28/2024 12:44 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20190&cosponId=29878
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: June 20, 2019 03:38 PM
From: Senator Daylin Leach
To: All Senate members
Subject: Consumer Credit Freezes - Fixing a Discrepancy Between State and Federal Law
 
Soon I will introduce legislation amending Pennsylvania’s Credit Reporting Agency Act (CRAA) to fix a discrepancy between the CRAA and federal law.

The CRAA provides that a security freeze placed on a consumer’s credit shall remain in place until the consumer requests that the freeze be lifted or until seven years have passed since the freeze was put in place by the agency – whichever is sooner. However, federal law and Federal Trade Commission procedures require agencies to keep freezes in place until the consumer requests that the freeze be lifted.

This discrepancy has led to confusion. In conversation with various stakeholders, my office has been told that the Commonwealth’s seven-year limit is superseded by federal law, that it’s not superseded by federal law, and that it might be superseded by federal law. A confused constituent even brought me a notice from Transunion explaining that it would defer to state limits where applicable – indicating that even the agencies are confused by this discrepancy.

Confusion aside, consumers should be able to freeze and unfreeze their credit at will. The seven-year limit currently in our statute is not only confusing – it’s arbitrary and pointless. We should remove it to bring Pennsylvania into compliance with federal law, to eliminate confusion, and because it’s just bad policy.

Last session, House Bill 1847 included this tweak among its many other provisions. It passed the House unanimously on March 13, 2018 but did not receive attention from the Senate. That language has been reintroduced this session as House Bill 270.

Please join me in supporting this important legislation.

If you have questions about this legislation, please don’t hesitate to contact me.



Introduced as SB807