Credit trackers finally taking the right steps

A while ago I posted my general thoughts on why the "identity theft issue" is not one that consumers can or should be expected to solve. In a nutshell, the narrow point in the process is the credit tracking industry, since there are 3 companies in the US, 2 in Canada that control all access to consumer credit by managing "credit histories". If these companies stop allowing just about anyone to "authorize" a credit enquiry (and, consequently, perhaps get credit in someone else's name and therefore cause a lender to begin adding false records to the victim's history) then the whole identity theft scam falls apart. If knowing my name, address and SIN is not enough to convince the credit bureau that you're me, you can't steal my identity (at least in the manner typically used to falsely obtain credit in my name).

Finally, all three credit bureaus in the US are offering "credit freeze" plans, where a consumer can put a freeze on his or her credit history so no lender can receive a report. To successfully apply for credit the consumer will likely need to allow his or her credit history to be sent to the potential lender so there is a process for a temporary "thaw". A brief search didn't show any similar program in Canada yet, unfortunately.

This is a good first start but there a few disturbing things about this news. First, it turns out that 39 states already had laws requiring credit tracking agencies to offer credit freeze options. However, only now is this service being offered to consumers in the 11 states negligent enough not to enact such legislation. Worse, Equifax (at least) is charging an exorbitant amount of $10 per freeze/thaw. Why is this exorbitant? Because this process should be so trivially inexpensive for them to manage (after initial setup) that $10 per transaction is essentially $10 pure profit on every transaction. If it's not, it's only because Equifax has not implemented its system efficiently.

So we are moving toward a system where consumers can control access to their credit histories, which is good, but control over their private information is coming at a ridiculously high price, which is very bad. The credit reporting agencies have made a healthy profit for a long time off consumers' credit histories. They do not need to make further profit off our ability to permit or deny access to our own information.