FollowText.com » Finance » Personal-finance » Free Isn't "Free" When It Comes to Protecting Your Identity

Free Isn't "Free" When It Comes to Protecting Your Identity

by: JedJenson
Total views: 9 | Word Count: 854

According to the FTC, an estimated 9 million Americans are affected each year by identity theft. Although the federal government has made it possible for each citizen to protect their identity by initiating free fraud alerts, placing their name and contact information on "do not call" or mail lists, and accessing free credit reports, many individuals do not realize that they must continuously request these "free" services. When taking into account the amount of time it takes to repeatedly request these "free" services and the risks involved in forgetting to put these protective measures in place, "free" can turn into thousands of dollars of financial ruin and thousands of hours spent trying to restore one's good name and credit. When it comes down to it, if time equals money, then nothing is free when it comes to protecting your identity. Fortunately, though, there is an economic way to protect your identity and prevent identity theft through a company called LifeLock. LifeLock's Identity Theft Prevention services can help you protect your identity and prevent identity theft in six valuable ways.

1. Fraud Alerts - LifeLock helps to protect your identity by requesting Fraud Alerts for you every 90 days. A fraud alert is a "flag" placed on your credit report that notifies a lender that they must, among other things, verify your identity before issuing a credit card or loan. If a LifeLock member has difficulty in obtaining credit because of a fraud alert on their credit account, LifeLock will contact the credit issuer for the member and clear up any concerns about the alert.

2. Do Not Call or Mail Lists - LifeLock protects your identity by removing your name from pre-approved credit card mailing lists and by placing your name on "do-not-call" lists on an annual basis. Identity thieves can easily steal your identity and affect your credit status is by taking pre-approved credit card offers from your mailbox. They can also act as telemarketers and call to tell you that you have won a free trip and then ask for your credit card number in order to pay for the expenses not covered by the award. LifeLock makes it easy for you to remove your name from solicitation lists and prevent this type of identity theft.

3. Credit Reports - LifeLock protects your identity by ordering your free credit reports from the credit bureaus, on your behalf, and sending these directly to you. This way you can check to see if you have had any unauthorized loans or credit cards opened in your name.

4. WalletLock - If you really want to protect your identity, don't lose your wallet. Of course, that is easier said than done. If you have ever lost your wallet, chances are you have experienced a sense of fear and panic and thought, "What was in my wallet and how do I stop someone from using my credit cards?" With LifeLock's WalletLock system, there is no need to feel fear or panic if you lose your wallet. Through WalletLock you will be able to identify what was in your wallet and will be assigned a WalletLock specialist who will help you contact each credit card company, banking institution, and any state and federal agencies who issue driver's licenses, etc. to cancel the accounts and to begin the process of reinstating missing documents.

5. Identity Monitoring -LifeLock provides an additional way of preventing identity theft from occurring through its eRecon and TrueAddress systems. eRecon protects your identity through searching criminal websites for the selling or trading of your personal information and notifies you if such use is discovered. TrueAddress works by detecting any change of address information attached to your name in nationwide databases. You will then be alerted if a criminal tries to steal your mail or obtain your financial information by attempting to change your address. LifeLock also ensures that new bank accounts are not opened in a member's name by monitoring check systems.

6. Recovering Your Identity - Because there is no way to prevent all forms of identity theft, LifeLock offers a $1,000,000 total service guarantee if someone happens to discover a weakness in their system and uses it to steal your identity. If necessary, LifeLock will provide attorneys, investigators, accountants, case managers, etc. to restore your good name and, if you lose money as a result of the theft, LifeLock will reimburse you the amount of money lost. In fact, Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock has been quoted as saying "If you get thrown in jail [because of identity theft], we'll bail you out of jail."

There are ways to protect your identity which will only cost you in terms of time and effort; however, there is no guarantee that you will recover your money and good name if your identity is stolen. LifeLock's Identity Protection services offer six ways to save you time and effort in protecting your identity, preventing identity theft, and guaranteeing to recover your money and restore your good name if your identity is stolen.

About the Author

Jed Jenson covers identity theft services. To see other identity theft service reviews, read on.

Free Isn't "Free" When It Comes to Protecting Your Identity

About the Author

More Articles from: Personal Finance