Identity Theft Protection services

[crispus]

Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about these services. We have been considering Lifelock service, but don't know if we need it or not.

 

[bbbamI]

If you are a homeowner, does your homeowner's policy cover identity theft? We're switching to Travelers this year and I understand id theft is part of the coverage.

I don't know the specifics yet.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I have been paying for Identity Guard for a few years now. It's about $10 a month but worth my peace of mind. You receive an email whenever there's a change to your credit report on all three services ( transunion, equifax and experian).

I was a victim of identity theft and I don't want to go through it again.

 

[harley]

IMHO they are a waste of time and money. There's nothing they can do that you can't do for yourself. It's not that hard checking your credit report occassionally. If you live in one of the states that allow you to freeze your credit, do that and you should not have any problems. However, if you need to apply for credit I've heard some horror stories about removing the freeze. If you are worried about ID theft and absolutely won't do the work yourself, then something like Lifelock might be worthwhile. Although I don't think they do much other than monitor the credit bureaus for changes. They can't stop ID Theft, and I don't think they are much help after it happens either. I think you still have to do all the legwork, although they can give you some help figuring out who to talk to.

If the credit bureaus actually had our best interests at heart we'd be able to manage our records easily, freezing and unfreezing as needed and having the ability to actually talk to someone about correcting problems and issues. I really don't see any reason a person shouldn't be able to check their data online and whenever they want to. To me this would be like your doctor only allowing you to see your medical records once a year, and making you pay for it and not allowing you to make corrections. If the governments weren't being paid off by the industry lobbyists to keep us from cotrolling our own data there would be no need for ID Theft insurance plans.

 

[harley]

If you are a homeowner, does your homeowner's policy cover identity theft? We're switching to Travelers this year and I understand id theft is part of the coverage.

I don't know the specifics yet.

I know a couple companies include it in their homeowners policy. However, an article I read recently said that Travelers is one that doesn't. It's a few months out of date though, so things may change. Maybe they're offering it as a rider with a slight extra charge.

Is ID Theft Insurance Worth Recommending to Agency Clients?

 

[Darryl]

One grade A shredder.

Check credit every 4 months at www.annualcreditreport.com one bureau at a time.

Ponied up about $10 per year as a rider on the homeowners policy.

Just can't justify the $10 per month for some of these programs.

 

[freebird5825]

I received 24 free months with Triple Alert(SM) Credit Monitoring as a result of a settlement in some court somewhere for Bank of NY Mellon losing some data about a year ago. The service does indeed work, but I would never pay for this.
Here is an FTC (your tax dollars at work) link for some background info on ID theft. It may help you evalaute the worth of your proposed paid service. There are many things you can do to make it harder for ID thieves.
About Identity Theft - Deter. Detect. Defend. Avoid ID Theft

 

[bbbamI]

I know a couple companies include it in their homeowners policy. However, an article I read recently said that Travelers is one that doesn't. It's a few months out of date though, so things may change. Maybe they're offering it as a rider with a slight extra charge.

I talked to the agent about a week and a half ago. He said it was included...we'll see. No matter as I'll save $1k a year by switching to Travelers instead of Allstate and get additional coverage. (this is for homeowner's and auto)

Just looked at the quote page for the homeowner's policy. I.D. fraud coverage is there and the charge is $25 for one year's coverage.

 

[kumquat]

Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about these services. We have been considering Lifelock service, but don't know if we need it or not.

Being too lazy to google 'Lifelock', what do these services provide?

Why are you worried about identity theft? Is it just the news media or is there a specific potential problem? More data required.