Search:

Nothing is Free When It Comes to Protecting Your Identity

When it comes down to it, if time equals money, then nothing is free when it comes to protecting your identity. Although the federal government has made it possible for each citizen to protect their identity, many individuals do not realize that they must request these "free" services on a continuous basis. When taking into account the amount of time it takes to repeatedly request these "free" services, "free" can easily turn into thousands of dollars of financial ruin and thousands of hours spent trying to restore one's good name and credit. 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 - A Fraud alert is a "flag" placed on your credit report that notifies a lender that they must, among other things, verify that you are who you say you are before credit is issued in your name. Fraud alerts are free; however, after 90 days, you must contact the credit bureau and request that another fraud alert be placed on your credit report. LifeLock takes care of requesting Fraud Alerts for you by making sure that alerts are continuously requested 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 - 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 - Ever lost your wallet? Every thought you lost your wallet? Chances are the first thing you did was to experience a sense of fear and panic. The second thing you probably did was to think, "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 - One sure way to protect your identity is to know when someone has sold or changed your personal information on-line or on databases. With LifeLock's eRecon and TrueAddress systems, potential identity theft threats are detected and eliminated through searching criminal websites and nationwide databases for trading and selling of your personal information or by making changes to 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."

Deciding to protect your identity and choosing 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 vs. money; however, there is no guarantee that you will recover your money and good name if your identity is stolen. The time, effort and money involved in protecting your identity and in having your identity stolen and credit ruined is incalculable. A smart consumer knows when it is time to ask, "When is free actually "free" when it comes to protecting my identity?" LifeLock's Identity Protection and Theft Prevention services take the time and effort out of you protecting your identity and backs up their work with a guarantee that any money involved, up to one million dollars, in restoring your good name, credit and money lost if your identity is stolen while you are a member of LifeLock will not come out of your pocket.

Article Source: http://www.particlearticles.com

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

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated