A Wisconsin State Assembly committee passed a bill that would eliminate the cost Wisconsinites face when trying to freeze their credit. Lawmakers say it was inspired by the security breach that impacted Equifax customers last year.

The

would prohibit credit agencies from charging a fee to customers if they want to freeze or unfreeze their credit.

Currently in Wisconsin, it costs $10 to freeze or unfreeze credit.

In September, the credit reporting company Equifax was hacked and more than 143 million Americans had their personal banking information stolen. Many Wisconsinites were impacted. When they went to freeze their credit to prevent their credit from changing due to fraudulent charges, they were charged $10.

One of the authors of the bill, State Sen. Patrick Testin said some people may have frozen their credit through all three major credit agencies. He said freezing and unfreezing all of those accounts could cost a person a total of $60.

"These credit companies establish the credits, they sell the information, they make money off of us. It seems to me that those of us who want to freeze our credit should do so and we shouldn't have to pay to have it done," co-author State Sen. Fred Risser said.

The President and CEO of the Wisconsin Bank Association, Rose Oswald Poels, said the breach made people aware of cyber banking safety. She said it's important for people to stay vigilant in protecting the information they put online.

She recommends checking your credit often through all credit agencies to ensure your information isn't being used to accumulate credit you're not aware of.

"Pull a free credit report from each of the agencies and then stagger those requests throughout the year so you can really monitor whether any new credit is being attempted in an unauthorized way on your report," Oswald Poels said.

The bill was in a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Technology and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.