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

By JedJenson
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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 - Fraud Alerts are one way to protect your identity. Although placing a fraud alert on your credit file with each of the 3 major credit bureaus is free, in order to benefit from having a fraud alert on your credit file, you must request a new alert every 90 days. LifeLock takes the time and effort out of remembering to request fraud alerts by requesting these alerts for you every 90 days. Through this service, LifeLock ensures that there are no lapses in Fraud Alerts on your credit report.

2. Do Not Call or Mail Lists - Another way to protect your identity from being stolen is by removing your name from solicitation lists such as pre-approved credit card mailing lists and telemarketing lists. Although this can be done by anyone for free, this must be done on an annual basis. LifeLock takes the worry out of keeping up with the various numbers to call and places to write to have your name removed from solicitation lists each year by actively removing your name from such lists on an annual basis.

3. Credit Reports - Being sure to check your credit report is a good way to help protect your identity. By checking your credit report, you can see if you have had any unauthorized loans or credit cards opened in your name. Although the federal government has made it a law for you to receive a free credit report from each of the 3 credit agencies yearly, the only way to ensure that your credit is checked all year long is to request a credit report from one of the credit agencies every 4 months. This can be very time consuming and cumbersome. LifeLock takes the time and effort out of remembering to pull your credit report by sending you a copy of your credit report four times a year.

4. WalletLock - If you ever lose your wallet, LifeLock's WalletLock system will help prevent identity theft by assisting you in identifying what was in your wallet and will assign you 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 affected accounts and to begin the process of reinstating missing documents.

5. Identity Monitoring - With LifeLock's eRecon and TrueAddress systems, potential identity theft threats are detected and eliminated through searching criminal websites and nationwide databases. eRecon protects your identity through searching criminal websites for the selling or trading of your social security number, credit card numbers, driver's license number, email address, etc. and notifies you if such use is discovered. TrueAddress works by detecting any change of address information in relation to your name that occurs on nationwide databases. You will 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 thieves do not open new bank accounts in a subscriber's name by monitoring check systems.

6. Recovering Your Identity - Because criminals find ways around the system, preventing identity theft is not always fool-proof. Because of this, LifeLock offers a $1,000,000 total service guarantee that if someone happens to discover a weakness in their system and uses it to steal your identity, they 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. Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, has even been quoted as saying "If you get thrown in jail [because of identity theft], we'll bail you out of jail."

The decision to protect your identity and the way in which you go about protecting your identity is completely up to you. 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. Then there's LifeLock's Identity Protection and Theft Prevention services that will save you time and effort in protecting your identity and preventing identity theft and LifeLock comes with up to a million dollar guarantee to recover your money and restore your good name if your identity is stolen.

About the Author

Jed Jenson publishes identity theft reviews, such as LifeLock reviews. To see another lifelock review, keep reading.

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