Protecting your ID

With the amount of driving I've done recently, I've heard several commercials and stories related to identity theft protection. For someone like me, it's probably something that I should investigate. So I did and thought it would be interesting to pass along the information to you. If you currently subscribe to any of these services, please comment and let me know what you think.

One of the more well known companies in the business is Lifelock. This is the guy who puts his SSN everywhere and dares you to steal his identity essentially. What most people don't realize is that you need a whole lot more info on someone than just their SSN to steal their identity. It's a good start, but you can do almost as much damage with your electronic banking login name and password. Anyway, Lifelock, like most of the services does a few things that you can do yourself. First, call 888-567-8688 to opt out of pre-approved credit card applications for 5 years. If you want to do it permanently, you can go to their website.

Second, you can contact any of the major credit reporting companies (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) and put on a 90 day fraud alert which means that if any company checks your credit before issuing you a credit card, they are supposed to call you to get your permission first. The only problem is that you have to renew it every 90 days and there is supposed to be some reason, but you can make anything up (or use the recent millions of names and information stolen from TJ Maxx transactions or names that were sold by Countrywide Financial employees). The three credit reporting agencies are all supposed to share fraud alert and other information, so you shouldn't have to contact all of them.

Those two things will help a great deal. Making a list of all of your credit cards, their numbers, and the 800 numbers of the issuer is another good idea. You shouldn't keep this on your computer however. Just write them down and stick them in a drawer or lockbox somewhere. This is handy if you just lose your wallet or purse!

Finally, you can get a free credit report from any of the credit agencies once a year and you should...just to see what's going on.

Here are the other identity theft prevention companies and a short comparison I found on the net:

Identity Theft Protection Services Quick Comparison Chart
Service Name Cost/Month Annual Fraud Alerts Credit Monitoring Free Trial

Identity Truth $9.99/mo. $99.99/year yes yes no
LifeLock $10.00/mo. $99.00/year yes yes no
TrustedID $10.00/mo. $99.00/year yes yes no
Identity Guard $12.99/mo. $129.95/year yes yes no

Those are the biggees. Seems like it might be expensive until you hear the stories about people spending literally YEARS and hundreds of hours trying to get their credit straightened out. Ugh.

The Bears play the 49ers in the all important third preseason game where the starters will probably play the first half. I'll be tailgating there early and hope to get to the southwest corner of the stadium to see Amy Freeze from Fox in person!! We'll see if I remember.