Identity Theft Protection Benefits
Identity theft is the deliberate theft of someone's critical information such as their Social Security number, credit card numbers, or bank account information. The intention of the thief is to use the information for their own personal gain. Identity protection services claim to offer a safeguard against identity theft by using software and other monitoring services to prevent the unauthorized use of your information.
A Consumer Federation of America report from March, 2009, revealed that identity theft services can be helpful, but not comprehensive in stopping identity theft. Consumers should, therefore, take extra steps whenever possible to aid the services in the prevention of identity theft.
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Prevention Services
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Identity theft has become so prevalent that even colleges, like Iona College in New York, are now offering identity-theft prevention services to their students. According to the Iona website, their prevention services "create a firewall around your identity." Although Iona's service is not available to the general public, the program serves as a good guide for what consumers should look for in an identity theft service.
Prevention services can and should include fraud alerts (in the event that someone tries to use your identity to obtain credit), Internet monitoring and deletion services, and the ability to stop junk mail.
Detection Services
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Detection services are similar to fraud alerts. Detection services monitor activity related to your Social Security number, your existing credit accounts, and help you to monitor your credit scores. Often detection services will also provide you with at least one free credit report per year. It is your responsibility, however, to make sure that the information contained in your credit report is accurate. Detection services cannot do this for you.
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Restoration and Reimbursement Services
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Identity theft services are not a complete safeguard against all forms of identity theft. If your identity was stolen prior to your purchase of an identity protection service, it may not be able to stop all unauthorized activity on your accounts. For example, if your credit card information were stolen and used to make a recurring purchase such as a website membership. In such cases, the process of stopping that recurring payment falls on your shoulders and would take some work on your part.
Some programs do, however, offer restoration services which guarantee you assistance in restoring your identity and making sure that all fraud claims have reached a satisfactory resolution. In doing so, many companies offer a guaranteed reimbursement amount in the event that your identity is stolen on their watch.
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