Notification of Rights for Tennessee Consumers
Tennessee employees and job applicants have the right to place a security freeze on their consumer report. A security freeze generally prevents a consumer reporting agency from releasing information from the consumer’s credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. A security freeze may help protect against identity theft and reduce the risk that someone will obtain credit, loans, utility service, telephone service, or other accounts in the consumer’s name without consent.
A consumer may request a security freeze in writing by certified mail or through an electronic method offered by the consumer reporting agency. A consumer reporting agency generally must place the freeze within three business days after receiving the request.
A consumer who plans to apply for credit, a loan, utility service, telephone service, or another account requiring a credit check may need to temporarily lift the security freeze before applying. The consumer reporting agency will provide a personal identification number, password, or other authentication method that the consumer may use to request a temporary lift or removal of the freeze.
To temporarily lift a security freeze or authorize release of a consumer report, the consumer must contact the consumer reporting agency and provide the information required to verify the consumer’s identity, together with the period during which the report should be available. For an electronic request made during the applicable service hours, the consumer reporting agency generally must authorize the release within 15 minutes, subject to statutory exceptions.
A security freeze does not prevent a consumer reporting agency from releasing a consumer report to an existing creditor, the creditor’s affiliates, or a collection agency acting on the creditor’s behalf when the report is requested for fraud control, account review, account maintenance, or collection purposes.
A consumer reporting agency may not charge a Tennessee consumer to place, temporarily lift, or permanently remove a security freeze. Consumers who believe they are victims of identity theft may consider filing a report with law enforcement and submitting a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission and the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Consumers may also have legal remedies under state or federal law if someone improperly obtains access to, misuses, or fails to correct inaccurate consumer-report information.
Protected Consumer Security Freeze
A parent, legal guardian, conservator, or other authorized representative may place a security freeze for a protected consumer. A protected consumer includes a person under 16 years of age or an incapacitated person for whom a guardian or conservator has been appointed. While the freeze is in effect, a consumer reporting agency generally may not release the protected consumer’s consumer report or related information unless the freeze is removed or a statutory exception applies.
A consumer reporting agency may charge a reasonable fee of up to $10 for each placement or removal of a protected-consumer security freeze. However, no fee may be charged when the protected consumer’s representative provides the required police report showing alleged identity fraud involving the protected consumer, or when the request concerns a protected consumer under age 16 and the consumer reporting agency already maintains a consumer report for that person.