Identity Theft is out of control. Even if you protect your data at home, chances are high that your personal data (including your SSN) gets into the hand of a hacker anyway. You probably heard about stolen laptops and lost backup tapes at different companies already. They do not treat your data serious enough and as a result you’re at risk having your identity stolen. The only real way to protect yourself is to monitor your credit report.
Fight identity theft by monitoring and reviewing your credit report on a regular base. By law you are entitled to a free report once per year. But there is a catch: It takes 15 business days for your credit report request to be processed + a few more days for the mail to arrive. And to top it off – you can get your free annual credit report only once per year. Let me be blunt: THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO PROTECT YOUR CREDIT.
However, you can avoid this problem and sign up for a credit report monitoring service. They offer 3-bureau credit reports and credit scores for free + they notify you upon activity in your credit file. The notifications come via email and so you have instant access to changes on your credit report. You act immediately upon fraudulent activity and therefore protect your credit history being destroyed.
The average cost related to identity theft is $5,000 – that is extra cost on your side to clean up once your identity is stolen without you being aware of it. However, if you protect your credit report by monitoring it closely you can usually avoid these damages and place a freeze on your credit account. With credit report monitoring you will not occure the same cost that you would have otherwise without protection. As a matter of fact – most victims of identity theft who have credit report monitoring in place do not face any financial issues at all. They can stop the madness before the damage is done. Are you monitoring your credit report?
You must log in to post a comment.