Do Identity Theft Protection Services Work?

According to a recent FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Report, identity theft was the top complaint from consumers in the year 2014. Many of the other studies and reports also show:

• A significant increase in data breaches in the year 2014 when compared to the year 2013.
• Financial services and the retail sector have seen 12% and 11% respectively of these breaches.
• Reasons such as malicious intent and accidental loss are the biggest factors behind identity theft.

So the questions remain – what are the kind of identity theft protection services you should employ and perhaps more importantly do they work?

What are the service providers offering?

You could find out what the providers of identity theft protection services promise you when you visit their web sites. Some of the traditional services that you can look forward to include:

• Monitoring your credit card and other information and restoring the same in the event of theft.
• Keeping track of public records pertaining to your information so that you know if and when somebody has stolen your identity.
• Updating your credit score every month.

Service providers such as Lifelock have gained quite a solid reputation in the market because of the comprehensiveness of the services. Comprehensiveness of service is one of the things that you must look out for when you choose identity theft protection for yourself. This is important because very rarely is it about a unidimensional approach! Your identity is constituted of a multiple things and all of them must have protection and insurance.

The complete range

When it comes to the necessity to use effective Identity Guard, It is extremely essential to remember that they will work only when you are looking at the various kinds of financial information associated with you. These aspects therefore should encompass credit cards, credit scores, social security numbers, and Bank accounts and so on.

Each area needs a different approach. For instance, if it is a social security fraud, then you will have to access the website of the social security agency and register a complaint. A stolen credit card will have to be reported to the credit card agency. If a person has applied for a loan in your name then you will have to approach the bank to rectify the same and so on.

What can you do?

Apart from relying on identity theft protection services that are professional and effective, there are quite a few things that even you can do in order to monitor your personal information. Some of the things that you can do include constant online vigil as far as your personal information is concerned.

For instance, it is a good idea for you to look at your bank account statements as regularly as possible so that you can detect any unusual activity instantly. It would also be a very good idea for you to invest in top class software security for your computer. Simple things such as clearing your passwords and being alert for phishing attempts will go a very long way in helping you protect your identity.

Credit report monitoring

The law allows you to have a free credit report every year from three bureaus – TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. It is a good idea for you to use this service and even better to rotate through the bureaus every four months so that you can get your free credit report more often.

The physical side of things

While it is easy to remember that identity theft protection services should definitely be deployed in the online world, it is also useful for you to look at the physical side of things and adopt good practices such as shredding your sensitive documents and ensuring that you do not share your passwords and PIN with anyone.

Tags: identity theft protection services

Category: Consumer Complaints, Identity Theft, Law