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Posts Tagged ‘Credit Monitoring’

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime, not only in America, but in the whole world as well. The scope of the damages of identity theft can range from poor (if not damaged) credit rating to bankruptcy with enormous debts on the side. A lot of consumers are not aware of how identity theft can impact their life nor how it can affect their future mobility. For these reasons, a lot of people are getting careless which provides a lot of opportunities for identity thieves to steal their information. As a consequence, facilities that offer credit monitoring and identity theft protection are needed to protect people from identity theft but the question is, can they really provide sufficient protection?

Credit Monitoring and Identity Theft Protection: The Works

Credit monitoring and identity theft protection facilities specifically offer their customers the following services:

1. Credit monitoring from the three major credit reporting agencies. Your Credit monitoring and identity theft protection facility will be the one responsible to monitor your credit report from the credit bureaus. Some of them will monitor your account quarterly, which means that they will request for your credit report four times a year. Once there are dubious entries, you will be contacted the soonest time possible.

2. File for fraud alert on your identity. The fraud alert is often active until 90 days. At this point, credit card companies and other financial institutions including banks and loan facilities, will first contact you before anyone can open an account under your name.

3. Guidance throughout the recovery process. This is another perk that you will receive when you sign up for credit monitoring services. Some even offer budget management services which will help you come up with a realistic budget that will best suit your current financial situation.

4. Compensation for lost work hours. The process of recovering from an identity theft crime can take months while some took years. During these times, depending on the package that you subscribed into with your credit monitoring facility, they could pay you for the lost work hours that you will incur as you process your identity theft case.

5. Lost cash reimbursement. Again, this is a feature that will be offered to identity theft victims depending on the package that they subscribed into. Some would companies offer reimbursement features that for whatever amount the identity thief got from you, you will be reimbursed with the amount that you lost.

6. Computer protection. This is a very basic move but something that can really help you keep identity theft criminals at bay. Some credit monitoring facilities will install their own recommended antivirus programs in your computer so that they can encrypt your data and prevent it from being intercepted online. This antivirus program will also prevent spyware from installing themselves into your computer.

These are just some of the services that most credit monitoring facilities offer. What you should take note of, though, is the fact that the features that will come with your subscription would often depend on the security package that you will select.