Someone stole my brother's identity ten years ago. In a week, he was hit with four $300 charges, and the bank wasn't too happy with him. After a few days they finally sided with him and cancelled those charges from ravaging his credit and gave him new bank account information.
The horrifying thing about the whole experience was just knowing that there was someone out there claiming to be my brother, armed with just enough personal and financial data to get into big trouble.
My brother reached out and handled his problems himself, despite the fact that his credit still gets hammered by fake charges once in a while. No question, my brother was lucky.
Identity theft is a frightening thing. No one likes the idea of losing money or spending hour after frustrating hour tracking down mysterious charges on their credit reports. When people get scared, they start to do things they wouldn't normally do, and some businesses begin offering services that offer to help their concerns. Identity theft has definitely freaked out enough people, and numerous businesses offer protective services for a fee.
No Ability To Track Effectiveness
Protection against identity theft is not customer friendly; there is no possible way for customers to see how effective these service providers really are, or if they are improving computer security at all.
Most companies center their efforts around checking your credit score regularly so no charges can slip past you without you being aware of its presence. There's nothing complicated about reading your credit report -- you could do it too, for much cheaper, I might add. So, not counting this, what exactly do these businesses do?
That question is impossible to answer, which is the most frustrating thing about these protective services. You have to take their word for it and assume you are somehow safer. Obviously, this can cause friction between the customer and the business. Protection against identity theft can only be measured by whether or not your identity has been stolen since beginning the use of their product. If your identity isn't stolen, that means their efforts helped, right?
No. There are no guarantees.
Featureless Services
Protection against identity theft can bear prices both high and low, though neither type has its services explained completely. Now, consider this: almost everything these companies offer to do for you, you can do even better, for less cash. Why let someone else do it when it's just within your reach. If you have some spare time to devote to keeping tabs on your credit report, you can do just as well.
Protection against identity theft is crucial to maintaining your financial security, but throwing money at strangers to read your credit report just doesn't make sense in the long run. - 30201
The horrifying thing about the whole experience was just knowing that there was someone out there claiming to be my brother, armed with just enough personal and financial data to get into big trouble.
My brother reached out and handled his problems himself, despite the fact that his credit still gets hammered by fake charges once in a while. No question, my brother was lucky.
Identity theft is a frightening thing. No one likes the idea of losing money or spending hour after frustrating hour tracking down mysterious charges on their credit reports. When people get scared, they start to do things they wouldn't normally do, and some businesses begin offering services that offer to help their concerns. Identity theft has definitely freaked out enough people, and numerous businesses offer protective services for a fee.
No Ability To Track Effectiveness
Protection against identity theft is not customer friendly; there is no possible way for customers to see how effective these service providers really are, or if they are improving computer security at all.
Most companies center their efforts around checking your credit score regularly so no charges can slip past you without you being aware of its presence. There's nothing complicated about reading your credit report -- you could do it too, for much cheaper, I might add. So, not counting this, what exactly do these businesses do?
That question is impossible to answer, which is the most frustrating thing about these protective services. You have to take their word for it and assume you are somehow safer. Obviously, this can cause friction between the customer and the business. Protection against identity theft can only be measured by whether or not your identity has been stolen since beginning the use of their product. If your identity isn't stolen, that means their efforts helped, right?
No. There are no guarantees.
Featureless Services
Protection against identity theft can bear prices both high and low, though neither type has its services explained completely. Now, consider this: almost everything these companies offer to do for you, you can do even better, for less cash. Why let someone else do it when it's just within your reach. If you have some spare time to devote to keeping tabs on your credit report, you can do just as well.
Protection against identity theft is crucial to maintaining your financial security, but throwing money at strangers to read your credit report just doesn't make sense in the long run. - 30201
About the Author:
Make your info safe, use identity theft prevention techniques to stay safe even when reviewing financials online. Do a little digging and get as much info as you can about which services one can purchase and how you can have protection against identity theft. Only take serious advice from trusted sites and avoid scams and false claims.
