Method and system for securing credit accounts
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving a request for unfreezing a consumer credit account with a credit bureau that has a security freeze placed on it, the request including an identification code;
generating a release code based on the request at the service provider;
providing the release code from the service provider to the consumer;
receiving the release code at the service provider from a requestor;
matching the release code with the request;
obtaining a plurality of identification codes for the consumer'"'"'s accounts having a security freeze from a respective plurality of credit bureaus based on the release code;
submitting an unfreeze request from the service provider including the respective identification codes to the plurality of credit bureaus if the release code in the request matches a stored release code;
receiving a confirmation of the unfreeze of the accounts from the credit bureaus;
providing the confirmation to the requester.
21 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An enterprising identity thief may open new credit accounts in a consumer'"'"'s name and then place a credit freeze on a consumer'"'"'s credit file, thus making it more difficult to detect or remedy the identity theft. This problem may be solved by automatically requesting a security freeze at each of the three main credit bureaus upon the enrollment of a consumer with the service provider. The requesting of the security freeze may result in the credit bureau generating an identification code for the consumer at each of the credit bureaus. The service provider then may immediately request that the security freeze be removed. Accordingly, the consumer may gain control of the security freeze credentials from each credit bureau before the identity thief.
163 Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising:
-
receiving a request for unfreezing a consumer credit account with a credit bureau that has a security freeze placed on it, the request including an identification code; generating a release code based on the request at the service provider; providing the release code from the service provider to the consumer; receiving the release code at the service provider from a requestor; matching the release code with the request; obtaining a plurality of identification codes for the consumer'"'"'s accounts having a security freeze from a respective plurality of credit bureaus based on the release code; submitting an unfreeze request from the service provider including the respective identification codes to the plurality of credit bureaus if the release code in the request matches a stored release code; receiving a confirmation of the unfreeze of the accounts from the credit bureaus; providing the confirmation to the requester. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method, comprising:
-
receiving a request to freeze a consumers credit accounts at credit bureaus at a service provider; requesting a security freeze from the service provider to a plurality of credit bureaus; receiving a respective identification code at the service provider for the consumer related to the security freeze from each of the plurality of credit bureaus; storing each of the identification codes at the service provider; generating a single security code associated with the identification codes for the consumer; providing the security code to the consumer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A computer-readable medium comprising software, which when executed by a computer system causes the computer system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
-
receiving a request for unfreezing a consumer credit account with a credit bureau that has a security freeze placed on it, the request including an identification code; generating a release code based on the request at the service provider; providing the release code from the service provider to the consumer; receiving the release code at the service provider from a requestor; matching the release code with the request; obtaining a plurality of identification codes for the consumer'"'"'s accounts having a security freeze from a respective plurality of credit bureaus based on the release code; submitting an unfreeze request from the service provider including the respective identification codes to the plurality of credit bureaus if the release code in the request matches a stored release code; receiving a confirmation of the unfreeze of the accounts from the credit bureaus; providing the confirmation to the requestor. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
-
Specification