Illinois Legislature Bans Credit Freezing Fees Charged by Equifax, Others

Last year’s data breach at the Equifax credit reporting agency brought attention to the fees customers can be charged for freezing their accounts. The Illinois Senate Wednesday approved a ban on such fees.

More than five million Illinois residents were victims of the massive Equifax data breach last year. They got another shock when Equifax initially refused to waive its ten dollar fee for freezing credit.

At the time, Attorney General Lisa Madigan called that unfair.

“It shouldn’t cost us money to do that, when one of the main reasons we need to be concerned about that right now is the fact that Equifax lost all our personal financial information,” she said.

While Equifax temporarily waived the fees in the face of public pressure, the state legislature took up a permanent ban that applies to all credit reporting agencies.

The measure still needs approval from Governor Bruce Rauner.

Madigan says an investigation of the Equifax breach is still underway.