Laws have a chilling effect on identity theft.

Every day, some 27,000 Americans have their identities stolen. In about a third of those cases, crooks use the information to open new accounts in their victim's name. Armed with just your name and Social Security number, a thief can open fraudulent accounts and start charging away, leaving you with a damaged credit record, which might take years to repair.

But the landscape is improving. Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have a new tool promoted by Consumers Union and other consumer groups to stymie thieves: security-freeze laws that allow consumers to protect their credit record from predators.

A freeze essentially locks up the information needed to conduct a credit check, and creditors won't open new accounts without that check. An imposter will be foiled, but you can lift the freeze using a PIN if you want to open new accounts.

A security freeze provides much stronger protection than the fraud alert that is currently available under federal law. An alert placed on a credit file amounts to a caution flag that is supposed to trigger added scrutiny by creditors. But it isn't foolproof and doesn't stop potential creditors from getting a credit report or credit score. A security freeze is far better because it prevents thieves from opening new accounts and hurting your credit.

Twenty-eight of the states that have security-freeze laws make this safeguard available to everyone, whether or not he or she has been a victim of ID theft. Most states that offer a security freeze make it free to identity-theft victims, and some provide it at no charge to seniors.

For those consumers who want the freeze but aren't victims of ID theft, most state security-freeze laws allow each of the three major credit bureaus to charge $5 to $10 to initiate the protection or to lift the freeze. The best state laws keep all fees low and allow consumers to temporarily lift or remove the freeze without charge.

UNDER THE RADAR