1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Equifax Consumer Protection and Data Empowerment Act of 2018 . 2. Credit locks (a) In general The Fair Credit Reporting Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 605B ( 15 U.S.C. 1681c–2 ) the following: 605C. Protection of credit information of consumers (a) Secure, convenient, accessible, and cost-Free file locks for consumers (1) In general Subject to paragraph (2), each consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) shall provide to any consumer a secure, convenient, accessible, and cost-free method that, with the express authorization of the consumer, allows that consumer reporting agency to release, or prevents that consumer reporting agency from releasing, any information in the file of the consumer for the purpose of— (A) the marketing or extension of credit or insurance; or (B) opening any financial account. (2) Prohibitions With respect to the method described in paragraph (1)— (A) the method may not be used by the consumer reporting agency that provides the method, or by any other person, to collect any information on a consumer that is not necessary for the purposes of preventing the release of information described in that paragraph; (B) no information collected under the method may be used for any purpose other than a purpose described in subparagraph (A); (C) in offering the method, a credit reporting agency described in section 603(p) may not require a consumer to— (i) waive any rights of the consumer; or (ii) indemnify the credit reporting agency with respect to any liabilities that arise from offering the method