Do any of you currently pay for credit monitoring or identity theft insurance? The agent through which we purchase homeowner’s insurance recently suggested that we sign up for an identity theft insurance policy.
I looked into the insurance and found that for $120 a year it covers up to “$25,000 for reimbursement of the many expenses that can accumulate in the identity recovery process. This includes: “lost wages up to $250 a day (not to exceed $5000 in total). Certain legal fees, including the expenses for defending any civil suit brought against the insured by a creditor or collection agency. Ordering credit reports, and postage, phone, and shipping fees related to identity theft.” More importantly the agency claims their case managers will take on the responsibility of restoring an individual’s credit to it’s pre-theft state. They’ll contact all of the financial institutions and collection agencies on your behalf, thereby saving you both time and money.
I’m not certain that the insurance is worth the money. I’m wondering if it would be more sensible to pay for a credit monitoring service. I know this won’t help me if someone steals my social security number and smuggles in illegal aliens, but it would at least alert me if monetary theft is taking place. If credit freezing was legal in my state I would definitely freeze my credit. My husband and I have two credit cards and two homes and aren’t planning on taking out any loans or credit cards in the near future. A couple of sites I read, suggest ordering a free copy of your credit report from one of the big three credit reporting bureaus once every four months. But four months seems like a long time to wait to see if someone steals your credit.
It doesn’t seem worth it to me, personally. I might shell out for it if I were on the verge of buying a home or something, or if I had major daily wages, but it’s not going to undo the damage that you couldn’t undo yourself.
Knowzy — Thanks so much for the links. They had a ton of suggestions for protecting against identity theft and convinced me not to pay for credit monitoring or identity theft protection.