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.