Start-up can help thwart ID theft

If you’re concerned about identity theft, you could pay $10 a month to a company like LifeLock or you could get an even better service for free from a new start-up.

Identity fraud claims a new victim every two seconds, according to the 2015 Identity Fraud Survey from Javelin Strategy & Research. That’s created a robust marketplace for services like LifeLock, Identity Guard and Identity Force. The identity theft protection packages that are so popular among people have settled somewhere between $9 and $15 per month or about $120 to $180 annually.

But what if you could get similar protection for free?

That’s the promise of Civic, a new service that works in partnership with banks and other financial institutions.

There are three main parts to the Civic service:

■ Identity alerts: You’ll be notified in real time when your Social Security number is used anywhere to open a new account or line of credit. That will give you the ability to either approve the use of your number or to shut it down cold.

■ $1 million free identity theft insurance: Should identity fraud befall you after you’ve signed up with Civic, the company will spend up to $1 million for investigators to help make you whole again.

■ Fraud support: Experts are on call 24/7 to help you if any potential identity fraud is suspected.

Civic sounds great and it’s an option you should consider. But don’t forget about my longtime favorite, the credit freeze. That’s the best way I know to prevent criminals from opening new lines of credit in your name. You’ll pay zero to $10 per bureau, depending on your state.

But doing a credit freeze means you have to “thaw” your credit (for a nominal fee) each time you want a new line of credit.