Comment by singleshot_

No. I have some guesses. A credit reporting company can probably sell access to their data for good money if the account is locked but not if it is frozen?

Put otherwise if a bank asks experian to look at my credit report and experian tells them to take a hike because my account is frozen, that’s not worth much money to the bank. But that’s the only credit account configuration that has any value to me, so I’ll insist on it.

I think “freezing” and the dynamics thereof are established by federal law, while “locked” is a think the companies made up so they had an account setting that they could provide that would give the illusion of security, while maintaining the ability to sell information associated with the account.

In other words: evil people do evil things when we aren’t paying sufficient attention. It’s our job to hold them accountable.