A Way to Freeze Out the ID Thieves

That's $30 to place a freeze on your credit files at all three bureaus. If you need to apply for credit later, you have to pay another $30 to unlock your files for a lender. If you don't plan properly, you would have to pay $30 each time you want a creditor to view your credit files.

In the states where a law is in place and lower fees are mandated, the credit bureaus must offer the freeze at the lower price. For example, in Montana non-identity theft victims pay $3 per credit bureau. You'll pay $5 if you are a resident of Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota and West Virginia, according to data collected by Consumers Union. Indiana allows no fees. Some states also prohibit senior citizens from being charged. (Check the Consumers Union Web site to find your state's policy.)

Consumers Union is pushing to get the credit bureaus to charge all consumers no more than $5 to initiate and temporarily lift a security freeze and no fee to remove the safeguard altogether.

Considering the recent spate of lost and stolen data affecting millions of consumers, Congress should mandate that everyone be allowed to initiate a security freeze at no charge. After all, we know identity theft is a huge problem. Various private and government surveys find that consumers can spend hundreds of hours and dollars trying to undo what an identity thief has done. Making this protection free could save everybody -- consumers, companies and law enforcement officials -- a lot of money and aggravation.

¿ On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.

¿ By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

¿ By e-mail:singletarym@washpost.com.

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