Easiest and Cheapest Way to Monitor Your Identity

The year of 2008 is upon us and identity theft continues to be a growing problem throughout the nation. Despite stronger laws and better consumer protection, thousands of people still became victims to identity theft in 2007. It almost seem inevitable that we will all have to deal with identity theft in some form eventually, which is why many people are looking for the easiest or least expensive method of monitoring their identity. You have numerous options in protecting your identity and some are obviously much better than others. It may not always be the easiest way, but possibly the cheapest way to monitor your identity is to request your free credit report from the major credit bureaus several times throughout the year. You are entitled to view your credit report from each bureau one time every year. Keep in mind that they may sign you up automatically for a credit monitoring service when you request your report. Of course you can cancel the service, but you’ll likely be forced to call the bureau’s customer service and ask to have it canceled. These services may range from $5-$20 a month, but offer no guarantees in keeping your identity safe, just a way to view your report and changes in credit score. Monitoring your credit report will let you know if identity theft has occurred, but it’s far from the best way to protect your identity.

What is the Best Way to Protect Your Identity?

It’s debatable as to what is the absolute best way to protect your identity, but for most people Life Lock has proven to be one of the leaders in the industry. At a rate of just $10 a month, it is less expensive than most credit monitoring services and yet still provides a better product. With credit monitoring services, you really only get a way of knowing when your score changes and the ability to view your credit report. Life Lock’s identity protection program puts safe guards on your account and stops fraud before it happens. They’ll put a stop to the identity risk pre-approved credit card offers in the mail and request your credit reports for you. But perhaps the most significant advantage Life Lock has over other forms of identity protection is its million dollar guarantee - should you ever become the victim of identity theft while enrolled in their program, they’ll do whatever it takes to recover your identity up to a million dollars. It’s a guarantee you can’t really get anywhere else, one that should allow you to truly take peace of mind about the safety of your identity. So while there are multiple methods for protecting and monitoring your identity, Life Lock offers truly the best method and one of the least expensive as well.

Additional Resources:

• Giving Credit Where Credit Is Not Due
• ID data breaches: as rampant as it seems