Credit Monitoring and Identity Theft Insurance – Your Tools to Fight Back!
The most common target of identity theft are credit cards. The best defense against this crime is to be proactive: check your credit reports regularly, analyze your bank and credit card statements for suspicious activity, and learn the tricks thieves use to steal your information. Another powerful defense is a credit monitoring service or an identity theft protection agency.
When you sign up with such a service, you get the piece of mind that, if anything suspicious happens in your name, you will know within 24 hours. You are also insured for expenses such as time off work, long distance phone calls, and any legal fees you may incur while straightening your credit rating. While credit monitoring will alert you to any changes in your record, a protection service will do that as well as defend you if you need to go to court or if you are arrested. They will also clean up your records and information, saving you hundreds of hours and numerous phone calls and letters to clear your good name. The level of service is up to you.
What is the Difference?
A credit monitoring service gives you multiple tools to analyze your credit profile, send you credit reports from all the major agencies, alert you to any changes in your report, and insure you up to a certain amount if a thief commits fraud in your name. They include the following benefits:
- Monitoring alerts: The service checks your credit report every day, and notifies you of any outside inquiries to your file, loan applications, address changes and bank account openings in your name. You choose how to be notified, such as by email, phone or text messaging.
- Credit reports: You are provided your credit report from Equifax, one of the three major reporting agencies. The other two are Experian and Transunion. You also receive a 3 in 1 credit report, showing side by side comparisons of your credit report and scores. Tools and glossaries help you interpret the reports.
- Your credit score: You can view a snapshot of your current score, which is an evaluation of your credit and how you compare to others that fit a similar statistical profile. You are given tips on what lowers and raises your score, and compares you to the national average to see where you stand. The higher your credit score, the more creditworthy are you, and the easier it is to receive loans. Plus, you will generally be able to negotiate a lower interest rate.
- Credit analyzer: If you are planning to refinance your house, apply for a loan, or pay off some debt, you can use the credit analyzer to see how this will affect your credit report and score. You can also create scenarios, to see how your credit will be affected if you miss a payment on a debt, or become debt free!
- Resources: You have a vast amount of information to learn about identity theft, fraud, and common tricks you can avoid. You also have highly trained specialists you can talk with one on one over the phone about questions and problems.
Think of credit monitoring as an alarm for your good name.
An identity theft prevention service offers some of the above services such as monitoring alerts and credit reports. However, their focus is on preventing fraud from happening in the first place, and offer an insurance guarantee. They include the following additional benefits:
- Fraud block: If an unauthorized application is sent to a credit agency, it will be blocked.
- Reduce the junk mail: They will remove you from junk mail lists and pre-approved credit card lists, and keep re-applying to keep you off. Many lists have a time limit, where companies can then begin sending you junk mail again unless you request to be removed from lists again. And again. And again.
- Protect you: If you are innocent, and you are arrested, you will be bailed out and lawyers will defend you.
- Clean up your good name: They will do all the legwork phoning and writing to financial institutions to clear your name and fix your credit report.
Think of id theft protection as an alarm for your good name, but also with a tough guard dog, a lawyer, an accountant and anybody else you need.
