Let’s face it, there are some people in the world that are just too lazy to work hard, they would rather steal for a living. There are people who steal cars, break into a house to steal TV’s and other perceived valuables, rob banks for money, steal from liquor stores, pharmacy’s, even steal from their employers, you name it if someone has something that an unethical, immoral and lazy person wants, they will figure out a way to steal it.
This concept does not stop at material possessions. There are people out there who make it their profession stealing identities. Why would anyone want to steal someone’s identity?
Well, besides the obvious flaws in character, it is because it is easier to steal an identity then it is to rob a bank and the crooks get the same return with less risk.
Identity theft does not just happen when a stranger takes your identity. Many times, most the time, this crime is committed by relatives. Yes, that’s right, the very people you should be able to trust are also the very people who have the easiest access to your information.
I am personally aware of a husband who has opened and charged credit cards under his wife’s name. He doesn’t think he did anything wrong because “it’s his wife” but as far as the law is concerned, it is theft and fraud. His wife is now being hounded by bill collectors, received several summons from the sheriff to appear in court for failure to pay. Her credit has been ruined all because her husband stole her identity.
I am also aware of parents opening up credit under their children’s name. This is becoming more common as it is so easy to do. Sadly by the time the child is an adult, they already have ruined credit due to the illegal actions of their parent.
Is this identity theft? Yes it is, both examples. Identity theft is not just about someone stealing your name and living as if they are you. It is about someone stealing your credit, which causing you, the victim, much grief and many times you don’t even know it has happened to you until you apply for a loan, try to buy a house, get a call from a creditor, or sometimes all of a sudden get a bill in the mail that you never knew you had.
So what can be done to combat this? We can’t control anyone but ourselves and knowledge is power when it comes to these types of crimes.
First there are services out there that will monitor your credit and alert you if there is a request for a new form of credit under your name. These services require paying a monthly or annual fee and they offer a guarantee that they will pay up to a certain amount to get the situation corrected for you.
I am all about saving money. Most of these paid services do what you could be doing on your own. Yes, there is an advantage to the paid service in that they will do the leg work for you if there is an incident of identity theft but for the most part identify theft is about being pro-active to prevent it rather than being reactive to fix it once it happens.
So what can you do to help prevent identity theft from happening to you?
Visit AnnualCreditReport.com and pull your credit report. By law you can pull a free report from each agency once a year. I would recommend spreading this out throughout the year. So first quarter you pull your report from TransUnion, next quarter you pull Equifax, and so on. That way you are monitoring throughout the year, and it is free to you.
Stop all unsolicited credit offers by going to OptOutPrescreen. Have you ever counted how many offers you receive in the mail each year for credit cards and equity loans? It is so easy for someone to “snatch” one of those offers and fill it out under your name and that is the start of an identity theft. Also, stopping these offers cuts down on what I consider “junk” coming into the house as well as helps the environment by reducing land fill trash.
Place a fraud alert on your credit at all reporting agencies. This will place an alert at the agencies so that if someone does attempt to get credit in your name you will be notified prior to approval. With that said, this is not infallible, I have heard of instances where the agency passes the credit request through without your approval, but it is better to have this in place than not. It does take some scheduling on your part. The alert only lasts for 3 months then you have to contact the agencies to place it again. It is on my calendar as a “to do” the first of every quarter and it only takes a few minutes and is all automated with a phone call. When you place the alert the recording will state that the agency will report this to the other agencies, take care of yourself, report it yourself to all three agencies.
So that is it in a nutshell. Protecting yourself from identity theft is no different than locking your car doors or insuring the deadbolt is set on the front door of your house. A little bit of pro-active protection is not fool proof, but sure does deter most as it is far easier to steal from someone not protected than someone who is.
With all that said we all have enough in life that keeps us busy. Times gets by and before you know it all your “manual” attempts of protecting your identity are six months behind or more. It only takes just that small open hole for someone to slip in and snatch what is you, your identity. That is why I use and recommend some form of automated identity protection service. Sure, like I said above you can do all this for free, but why risk missing something or a date to reactivate a fraud alert? So who is the best?
Well who is the “best” is really based on personal opinion or personal experience. A company that I am a customer of is Experian, their product is ProtectMyID. I like them because the are actually one of the main credit bureau’s and I figured if someone new about identities it would be them. The program is easy to sign up for and actually has a first month for a $1 option which you can get by clicking here. They have great reports and very good customer service.
Another service that I really like is Identity Guard, now to be honest I have not personally used them since I am already signed up with Experian, but I have clients who use them and they say they are very pleased with their services. I am not aware of any special offers they have for signing up, but know you can research more about them here.
Which ever service you choose, please choose one of them. Your identity is at risk today right now, so get ahead to the thieves and protect yourself today!
