Identity Theft Protection Reviews – What You Can Expect From An Identity Theft Protection Service

One of the offshoots of the up-tick in the incidence of identity theft over the course of the past few decades is what has come to be commonly known as identity theft protection services. The way that these services function is two-fold in that they plug the most common gaps where peoples identity is taken and secondly they will monitor your credit for any unusual activity. The following is an identity theft protection review outlining what one can expect from one of these services.

Credit Fraud Alert

They all will set a credit fraud alert with all three major credit reporting agencies in the US. This alert notice will have to be renewed every 90 days and in fact you can do it yourself because its a free service that all the credit reporting agencies offer. Once its in place, you will be automatically notified when any new action is taken.

Phone Number Privacy

They all do this and its the means by which your phone number is removed from any and all public accessed data bases. Times really have changed and today just because your phone number is unlisted in the public phone book doesn’t mean that it isn’t out there to be had by someone who is determined to get it.

Credit History Audit

My identity theft protection review found that some services offer this feature option and others don’t. The ones that do offer it, basically go over your credit report to identify any discrepancies and or inaccuracies. Its a convenience option that has nothing to do with identity theft. However; be aware that credit reporting errors are quite common and your credit score may be effected by one or more of them.

Identity Theft Insurance

An identity theft protection review also found that all of all major services offer some type of insurance, usually around $20,000. This is basically a free policy that insures you up to that amount while they are your service provider. The way it works, is if you get scammed by identity theft out of an amount of money up to the insurance coverage, they pay it.

Recovery Services

Identity theft recovery is a complex process that can take years to complete. Remember that when your attempting to sort things out, the people on the other end of the line are probably owed money and just want to be paid. Also as far as they’re concerned, it was you who ran up the charges and your insistence that it wasn’t will for the most part fall on deaf ears. It can take years to completely sort it all out and in the mean time your personal credit will be getting trashed

Identity Theft Protection: See My Personal Recommendation Here

Free Annual Credit Reports

My identity theft protection reviews also found that they all do this. The reason is simple and thats because all the major credit reporting services must provide you with one every year upon demand. Look them up online and contact them and you can in fact get one sent to you now.

Removal From Junk Mail and Free Credit Card Lists

The junk mail list removal option is basically a conveniencve feature. However; unsolicited pre-approved credit cards sitting in your mail box are a definite potential problem.

Credit Card Monitoring

This is a service option that has them monitoring your credit cards for unusual activity. Most credit card companies now offer this service.

Identity Theft Protection Reviews – My Final Thoughts

This protection service for identity theft review covers the main basic service options that you will commonly find offered. There are other feature options but for the most part they tend to relate to issues other then core identity theft problem areas. Even so, none of these services and the protection features that they offer completely absolve you from your personal responsibilities.

You see, if you look closely at what they have to offer, much of what they provide is applicable after you have had your identity stolen or been ripped off. Even then, if you’re ripped off for more then the amount of their insurance coverage your responsible for that. Also there are some items that have been left off the list that none of them offer like protection from theft by check washing, just to name one.

The Sad Truth About Identity Theft

Truth is we all have about a 1/20 chance each year of being affected by identity theft. Yep, about 5% of the population each and every year and rising. Keep yourself protected, see exactly what I use for identity theft protection