Soon you won’t have to pay to freeze your credit. As part of a new bank deregulation bill passed by Congress on Tuesday, the new law will make it so consumers can both place and remove credit freezes at no cost, a process that currently costs between $2 and $10, depending on where you live, and needs to be done at all three credit bureaus in order to be effective, Lifehacker reports.
Interest in credit freezing rose last year when the Equifax hack exposed the personal information of about 148 million Americans. Afterward, it offered impacted individuals the ability to freeze their credit for free for 30 days, but customers were still on the hook to pay for the credit freeze at the other credit bureaus, TransUnion and Experian, as well.
A credit freeze makes it so companies aren’t able to check your credit, something a scammer would need to open up a new credit card or take out a new loan in your name. The idea is that you freeze your credit when you don’t plan on applying for anything new in order to prevent others from doing so without your knowledge.
Credit freezes are expected to become free four months after President Trump signs the bill.
