{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=E1650F60-EA57-4F1A-9802-C6731C6A4317", "After Heitkamp Bill Becomes Law, North Dakota Consumers Will Now be Able to Freeze & Unfreeze Their Credit for Free", "2018-09-20", "2018", "2018-09", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today announced that because of bipartisan legislation she wrote and helped pass into law, as of tomorrow, September 21, consumers will have access to free credit freezes and unfreezes from all three credit agencies to protect themselves from fraud and identity theft.\r\nThe provision requiring free credit freezes and unfreezes was part of a bipartisan bill Heitkamp wrote and introduced to boost economic growth in rural communities and protect North Dakota consumers. After five years of negotiations that Hetikamp helped lead, the bill was signed into law by President Trump in May, with Heitkamp present at the signing ceremony at the White House.\r\nThe reason I wrote and fought to pass this law was to protect consumers and spur economic growth in rural communities like North Dakota's. It's exciting to see an important provision from my bill go into effect that will help protect North Dakotans from identity theft and other factors that could unfairly hurt credit scores, Heitkamp said. Good credit is essential to everything from getting a small business loan, a home mortgage, or simply applying for a new credit card  and consumers have enough challenges without having to worry about criminals impacting their credit scores.\r\nWhen the provision in the law goes into effect tomorrow, the three credit agencies  Equifax, Experian and TransUnion  must each set up a webpage for requesting fraud alerts and credit freezes. The Federal Trade Commission will also post links to those webpages on IdentityTheft.gov. Freezing prevents activity that could impact a consumer's credit score  such as fraudulent loans taken out by someone who has stolen your identity.\r\nHeitkamp, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, began working on the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act in 2013. The bill strengthens consumer protections for seniors, veterans and servicemembers, and those who are vulnerable or have fallen victim to identity theft.\r\nHeitkamp's bill is also providing needed relief for community banks and credit unions so they can support consumers in rural areas like North Dakota, where regulations designed for big banks are making it harder for small lenders to provide mortgages or loans to expand small businesses and family farms.\r\nHeitkamp's bill received the endorsement of community banks and credit unions across the state, including Independent Community Banks of North Dakota and the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas. Click herefor statements of support for Heitkamp's bill.\r\nIn addition to providing free credit freezes and unfreezes, Heitkamp's Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act included provisions to:\r\n \r\nProtect consumers' credit by allowing consumers to set year-long fraud alerts.\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\nProtect seniors by extending immunity from liability to certain people who disclose suspected exploitation of seniors.\r\n \r\n \r\nProtect consumers from cyber security threats by requiring the Treasury Department to submit a report to Congress on the risks of cyber threats to financial institutions and the U.S. capital markets.\r\n \r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=E1650F60-EA57-4F1A-9802-C6731C6A4317"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8616391569375992, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}