Is there a **free** way to track and protect from identity theft?
ANA asked:
I don’t really get that you have to pay some agency a bunch of money to protect from identity theft. Yes, there’s the free annual credit report, but I’d want to know right away if someone attempts to steal my identity. Is there a way to get the credit agencies to notify you if there are any accounts opened or require some sort of verification before approving anything?
I don’t really get that you have to pay some agency a bunch of money to protect from identity theft. Yes, there’s the free annual credit report, but I’d want to know right away if someone attempts to steal my identity. Is there a way to get the credit agencies to notify you if there are any accounts opened or require some sort of verification before approving anything?
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All three credit reporting agencies are privaetly owned, and the way they make money is selling our private information to basically any one wanting to buy it. It is an abuse, therefor the Federal Trade Commision enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to stop those abuses from the “big three” to the consumers, you and me. But you can ask them to notify you whenever there is a credit request “on your behalf” that is the best way to prevent credit theft.
Equifax offers a few different services for only $9.95/month, which is pretty cheap if you are really concerned about identity theft. You can check them out on the link I post below.
Services like that are never “free” but there are many things you can do every day to prevent identity theft. The most important one is guarding your personal info like a pit bull and never give it out unless you are certain that it is required. Nobody gets my personal info anymore and I use several easy, common sense methods to reduce my risk to almost nothing (I should write a book).
If you have a WAMU credit card, they offer free FICO scores….If you notice a significant change in the score…this would tell you that something is amiss. That’s the only “free” way that I know of
Credit monitoring costs $9.95 month with Equifax…
You can put a fraud alert on your credit yourself – renew it every 90 days. A fraud alert requests that lenders call you at the number you provide before opening a new credit account.
Get your free credit reports every year – a good plan would be to stagger them every 4 months.
Another option is to freeze your credit report but it’s not free. That will keep even you from opening new credit unless you unfreeze it. It costs about $10 to freeze it w/ each credit bureau. The cost will depend on what state you live in.