Helpware: Protecting yourself from ID theft
Choosing a company to protect you against identity theft can be confusing. Do you really need their services, which can cost up to $30 a month?
Yes, you do, but only if the monitoring is effective. Identity theft affects upward of 18 million people a year, not including data breaches that make millions of others vulnerable.
I’ve had three monitoring services, at one point paying for two of them, all in an attempt to find out which one would be the most aggressive in alerting me when someone tried to steal my identity, buy an Aston Martin with my Social Security number or take a trip to Ulaanbaatar on my credit card.
The bottom line? Two of them performed as advertised. The third went into hibernation and, more than two months later, hasn’t come back. And that plane ticket to Ulaanbaatar? It was discovered by my credit card’s excellent fraud-detection service before the transaction was approved. Cost for that service is zero.
No monitoring service can spot all unauthorized transactions. Their forte is detecting fraudulent applications for credit cards, car loans and other unusual uses of a person’s Social Security number.
Complete ID is a typical identity theft monitor. It’s offered through Costco for prices starting at $9, which compares favorably to other providers’ $30 packages. For the affordable monthly fee ($20 for if you’re not a Costco member), you get annual credit reports from all three credit bureaus, monthly credit score updates, internet surveillance, Social Security number monitoring, payday loan monitoring, financial account application monitoring, and checking and savings account activity alerts. The service will monitor criminal records and offers lost wallet replacement assistance. Complete ID pledges that it will restore your stolen identity to what it should be and offers $1 million insurance against identity theft and stolen funds. It offers 24/7 support, which, in my test, is quite good.
A typical $30 service from other companies will, like Complete ID, also curb credit card offers, which in the wrong hands make it easy for a troublemaker to rack up charges against you. Child fraud — a growing problem — is offered for a few dollars more. I received timely alerts from Complete ID about possible fraud, and the service alerted me to new loans that I had taken out.
Then there’s the widely advertised LifeLock. I signed up for LifeLock several months ago and haven’t heard a word from them since. While Complete ID at least sent me monthly reports that detailed credit card inquiries and new loans taken out in my name, LifeLock has remained silent all this time. There are three levels, and I finally figured out why I haven’t heard from the company: Its $10 basic level, while not worthless, is at best not worthwhile. You get what you pay for.