Identity protection software recommendations...

[Anonymous]

Hello, I was wondering if anybody can recommend any identity theft protection programs that work, and are worth the money. I would like to have the opportunity to protect my credit and most importantly my identity. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Option #1 is to monitor one's credit reports in perpetuity on a daily basis. Alerts, no matter who's the provider, could be greatly improved, and until they do improve I don't see any effective option besides checking one's reports at least a few times a week--even that has a window for fraud.

Option #2 is anything else. If I allow my imagination to run wild, conceptually, I cannot envision anything that would be considered remotely effective yet would still pass Constitutional muster.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=5457

[Anonymous]

A company called Zander insurance out of Nashville has a great insurance policy for Identity Theft. 

Unlike other programs which just monitor your credit, this policy will help you if you become a victim of identity theft, the company works with you from start to finish to restore your identity.

They will develop a plan which will include placing fraud alerts at all 3 credit bureaus, notifying creditors, financial institutions, the social security administration, and law enforcement agencies. They will handle any creditor dispute resolutions on a member’s behalf, continue to monitor credit bureau activity, work to remove any criminal or civil judgments, and provide information to the Federal Trade Commission and other government agencies to eliminate any continued activity.

Most other plans simply offer guidance or assistance, leaving an individual to the time consuming and confusing task of dealing with a multitude of bureaucracies.

www.zanderins.com for more info

[Anonymous]

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bobkelly wrote:

A company called Zander insurance

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$72 a year, $6.50 for credit reports (although the frequency of the reports seems unclear), a few common sense tidits one can find FOC online, and alerts about scams that again one can find online FOC.

The heavy Dave Ramsey endorsement makes me a bit guarded.

[Anonymous]

Identity protection is more than just a software program.  Proper identity protection means monitoring your accounts, placing fraud alerts on the 3 major credit bureaus every 90-days as a proactive measure, and securing your mail.  You can go one step further and attempt to eliminate many of the preapproved credit offers that come to you in the mail.  You can also buy insurance to help defray the expense of repair once your security has been breached.  Many homeowner insurance policies now offer credit fraud insurance.

For about $100 a year there are services that do much of this for you.  I currently use LifeLock at www.lifelock.com and they basically do all the things I could do myself for free if I had the time to mess with it.  The service has been very effective.  I have tried to open up a new telephone account through at&t, a new mortgage, and a new Dell consumer credit account since using the LifeLock service and have not been able to open these accounts until my identity was confirmed. 

The beauty of the insurance products (LifeLock, Zander, etc.....) is that they will assign a representative to help you if fraud takes place while insured.  The downside of placing a fraud alert on your account is that you will always get hassled when you go to open a credit account or a utility.

Message Edited by punkzip on 09-03-2007 06:50 AM