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Which ID theft service should you choose?

With the FTC’s announcement that 10 million Americans became identity theft victims in 2008, you might be wondering how to protect yourself. You have three options: Do-it-yourself, credit monitoring or comprehensive identity theft services.

DIY IDENTITY THEFT STEPS

  • If your identity has been stolen, or if you think it will be, experts recommend placing fraud alerts on your credit reports and renewing them every 90 days as they expire.
  • Remove your name from direct marketing lists to limit junk mail and pre-approved credit offers.
  • Order your credit report annually and review it for suspicious activities, address or employment changes and new credit accounts you didn’t open.
  • Strength: Totally free, other than the time it will cost you.
    Weakness: This requires time, commitment and organizational skills, and provides very limited improvement.

CREDIT MONITORING

  • Credit monitoring services notify you if there is suspicious activity in your credit file, e.g., a new account is opened, there’s a sudden spike on an existing account or there’s been a credit inquiry.
  • Strength: Limits the damage done by identity theft if it’s detected in time.
    Weakness: Costs $50 to $180 a year, and might monitor only one reporting agency. Does little to actually prevent identity theft.

LIFELOCK, COMPREHENSIVE IDENTITY THEFT SERVICES

  • Provides all the services recommended for do-it-yourselfers without the hassle, plus these exclusive services:
  • WalletLock™—WalletLock™ representatives help you cancel and replace official or financial documents from a lost or stolen wallet.
  • TrueAddress™—Monitors millions of address change requests so you’ll know if anyone’s trying to divert your mail.
  • eRecon™—Scours thousands of websites used for buying, selling and trading stolen identities.

Strength: Comprehensive, innovative and proactive identity theft service for only $9 a month when you use the LifeLock promotion code DEFENSE.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 4:49 pm and is filed under identity theft protection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

3 Responses to “Which ID theft service should you choose?”

  1. Yvonne says:
    May 26, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    Thanks for laying it out so succinctly. I never understood how credit monitoring could help, and thought LifeLock was the same kind of service.

    It’s ironic that I found this article the day before my bank told me I was involved in a big data breach and offered me free credit monitoring. Well, thanks for nothing! I’d rather pay for LifeLock!

  2. Bob D. says:
    June 25, 2009 at 8:06 am

    Thanks for the breakdown on coverages. It’s true that you can do it yourself, but I’m a lazy person so I think the comprehensive ID theft works best for me.

  3. Nick4 says:
    June 25, 2009 at 8:13 am

    This guy knows what he is talking about, any one reading needs to see what this guy is saying. He has broke up his facts in a good order and he has his facts right

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