Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft

I know better than most the importance of identity theft security. Three months ago, from the time of this writing, my family lost everything to an case of identity theft. I had heard of identity theft but never expected it could happen to my family.

Often, by the time one realizes their identity has been stolen, it's already too late. It was months later that I started receiving phone calls and letters from collection agencies. The thief had taken out a number of credit cards in my name and social security number, using a false address. As it seems, this is much easier than I expected.

We never fully recovered, but we did finally put the ordeal behind us and decided it was time to find some form of identity theft prevention. We had seen a number of ads, but we wanted to find the company that protected us the most, rather than the one that advertised the most.

I would pay dearly to prevent the experience from ever happening again, but the company I chose only charges $9 per month. This price includes a monitoring service that searches the Web for the illegal selling or trading of your personal information. If such activity is detected, they alert you and help you take steps to resolve the problem. Another monitor is designed to proactively detect any new address information in address databases nationwide. If a detected address change is fraudulent, they work with you to help avoid further damage and restore accurate address information. They notify you instantly if anyone uses your information to apply for credit or services. They reduce the amount of pre-approved credit card offers you receive. They even have 24/7 service representatives to help you in the case of problems.

Best of all, if you become a victim of identity theft due to a failure in their service, they'll cover up to $1 million in damages!

In your search for an identity protection service, make sure they at least offer these services.