How to protect against identity theft.
Identity theft. It’s a real thing. And it certainly is scary. Right before Christmas last year, the nursing dept at my work had all their checks go missing. Someone came in and stole them right off the desk at the main office! (yet another reason why I am glad I don’t work for nursing anymore!)
I was reading at Consumer Affairs web site, that Identity theft has been, for seven years in a row - the number one complaint reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Considering I am always buying things online - and yes, I can be a bit careless at times, this is a scary thing for me. I struggle from week to week with my bills and what not. My credit is not good, But I am trying to repair it, and things are finally starting to look up so really I do not want what little credit I do have - to get stolen!
So, I followed a link from their site, to a site called lifelock.
I checked it out, and it seems pretty good. When I get my next paycheck I am going to sign up for it.
I was at the site reading about it and I learned a very scary fact:
Since 2005, more than 230 million Americans (80,000 people a day) have received notice that their personal information has gone missing, causing panic, frustration and stress to those affected.
Can you imagine that? That is a TON of people! Look what happened with that huge TJ Max scandal here in Mass. That was pretty bad, and tons of people were affected. I guess I am glad I was never issued a TJ Max card!
So anyways, lifelock is a service that basically watches your credit for you. It protects your name. It starts out with setting up “fraud alerts” to all of the credit reporting agencies. Then it makes sure your name is removed from all of the “pre approved” mail offers that come through. Then every 90 days (or if you move) they do it again, and so on…
They even make sure that you get all of your credit reports, every year, from all the major reporting agencies. For free.
I don’t know about anywhere else, but here in Mass to just get a credit report each year it costs $12.00 each (if you have not been denied credit).
The Annual plan is only $110.00 for an adult and $25.00 per kid. If you decide to pay monthly, it’s just $10.00 a month per adult and $2.50 per kid.
To me that seems like a great price for a piece of mind!
And this is what I really like about them;
“If your Identity is stolen while you are a member of LifeLock, we’re going to do whatever it takes to recover your good name. If you need lawyers, we’re going to hire the best we can find. If you need investigators, accountants, case managers, whatever, they’re yours. If you lose money as a result of the theft, we’re going to give it back to you.
We will do whatever it takes to help you recover your good name and we will spend up to $1,000,000 to do it.”
Sounds like a place I want to join. Go there guys, check it out. And sign the petition while you are there!
It doesn’t cost anything to go check it out!
Filed under: Daily Stuff
[...] Chris wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThey even make sure that you get all of your credit reports, every year, from all the major reporting agencies. For free. I don’t know about anywhere else, but here in Mass to just get a credit report each year it costs $12.00 each (if … [...]
Here is a review of lifelock I found. For what it is worth I signed up. I saw a relative go through hell trying to restore her identity, and the key word is trying, 14 months worth.
It amazes me what advertising hype people buy into. This guy the CEO that published his SS#, he became an ID Theft victim last June in Forth Worth. Fraud alerts only protect TRUE NAME ID Theft, which according to the FTC only represents about 30% of ID Theft in 2007. Fraud alerts do not protect, inform or stop medical ID Theft, criminal ID Theft or Synthetic ID Theft. As far as credit reports, you are entitled to one free each year from the credit agencies by going to http://www.annualcreditreport.com Their $1 million dollar guarantee, well there is a firm that will do this for you directly or them for only $500, the $1 million is advertising hype. You guys really need to research ID Theft not just believe this firms advertising.
GB -You are correct, you are allowed ONE free credit report a year. If you need another credit report after that, you have to pay for one. This is the way it is in Mass anyway. I really do not think it is hype though. It’s pretty scary. And because they work with the credit reporting agencies, it will also protect you against the actual credit report companieserrors.So, if your identity is stolen, and you have already gotten that credit report you are out of luck. $500 seems like an awful lot to me though. I think $100 is a bit better.
I still think it is much better to have some of my credit protected. I am still going to give it a try. I think with the HIPPA laws, we are most definitely better protected with out health information.
[...] How to protect against identity theft. They even make sure that you get all of your credit reports, every year, from all the major reporting agencies. For free. I don’t know about anywhere else, but here in Mass to just get a credit report each year it costs $12.00 each (if … [...]