You’ve probably seen the advertisements that Visa, MasterCard and Discover have that offer to protect from identity and credit card theft. You’ve probably wondered if those are worthwhile. For instance, Discover offers a program, “Identity Theft Protection”, which costs $9.99 per month.
We have listed here what such credit card “protection programs” include. From what you have learned so far in this book, see if you can figure out the limitations of these programs:
- Telling you your credit score every 3 months
- A copy of your Equifax credit report every 3 months, with a comprehensive summary of what’s changed.
- Daily monitoring of your credit file for changes that might be indicators that identity theft has occurred.
- A free 3-in-1 upgrade that give you credit reports from all 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.)
- Unlimited access to a Credit Analyzer that allows you to run “What if” scenarios so that you can make good decisions about credit.
1. Not one single thing in it is geared toward prevention. All that any of it does is alert you to the fact that your identity has already been stolen. All the credit card’s program does is monitor activity—activity that happens after the thieves have stolen your identity.
2. It only recognizes one form of identity theft – your credit. What about all of those other issues we discussed – Social Security, Drivers License, medical, Health records/insurance, etc.?
3. What about the help you will need from attorneys to restore your credit and resolve issues people may claim against you, even though they’re not valid, such as fraud, crimes, financial commitments, tax issues, etc.?
Don’t waste your money on credit card programs that cost too much and do too little. Again, if you are interested in finding out what our research found to be a much more thorough service with a similar fee you can:
E-mail us for an identity theft protection referral Or Visit our recommended identity theft protection service provider.
