Congress was so concerned that fraud alerts be easy and convenient to place by consumers that it explicitly incorporated into the FCRA itslef the provision that the CRAs are to make requests for fraud alerts simple and eacy, including by telephone. HOwever, that is tempered by the ovious need to ensure that only the named consuemr is actually making the request, so they are still permitted to first require proof of identity.
Requests to remove a fraud alert dont have the same stated "by phone" intent statement within the FCRA itself due to potential damage of unauthroized removal, so the CRAs are usually a bit tougher in requesting proof of identity.
I, for one, would not like to see the process of removal become too easy such that it could routinely be done by phone.
