Consumers gained an additional weapon in the battle against identity theft when Virginia’s new security freeze law went into effect on July 1, 2008.

According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Office of Consumer Affairs, Virginia Code Sections 59.1-444.1-444.2 authorizes individuals to restrict access to their credit reports and lock out anyone seeking to open an account or fraudulently establish new credit in their name. If a consumer has placed a freeze on his credit report, a credit reporting agency is prohibited from releasing the credit report, or any information in it, without the consumer's specific authorization.

Starting Tuesday, Virginia residents wishing to place a freeze on their credit files may do so by sending a request and paying a $10 fee to each of the three major credit reporting agencies. No fees will be charged to victims of identity theft who submit a valid police report with their freeze request. Once the freeze is in place, the consumer will receive a personal identification number from the credit reporting agency. The PIN can then be used to remove the freeze on a temporary or permanent basis.

Although placing a security freeze on a credit report is an effective tool to combat the effects of identity theft, OCA cautions consumers that they will need to plan ahead to ensure timely processing of their legitimate credit applications. It may take the credit reporting agencies up to three business days to lift the security freeze and allow the processing of valid credit requests for items such as mortgages, credit cards, wireless phones, vehicle loans, rental housing and utilities authorizations.

Consumers should also be aware that certain creditors, prospective employers, law enforcement, child support agencies, tax authorities and other government agencies may continue to access credit reports for legitimate reasons even though the credit reports may have a security freeze in place.

To learn more about placing a security freeze on your credit report, contact each credit reporting agency separately at the links below.