Consumers Gain Identity Theft, Credit Savvy

California (I-Newswire) December 28, 2011 - Credit monitoring is an important aid in the early detection of identity theft, which allows consumers to quickly respond to suspicious changes in credit. With the rise of identity theft has come a marked increase in credit monitoring services, although credit monitoring, in reality, only helps you prevent identity theft after something has happened.

Credit monitoring services range from $50 to $180 per year, on average, depending on what’s being monitored and who’s providing the report. The question you may be asking yourself is whether the benefit is worth the price.

It should be noted that signing up with a credit monitoring service doesn’t offer you complete protection against identity theft. If you sign up for services with one of the credit bureaus, you will only be alerted of changes to your credit report with that bureau. If something happens and is reported to one of the other bureaus, you won’t know about it until debt collectors start calling.

Services that monitor all three bureaus are not foolproof, either. A thief can open accounts in your name that don’t require credit checks, and aren’t reported to the credit bureaus.

You also may not be notified if a thief uses your Social Security number with a different name. Credit bureaus do not link together accounts with the same Social Security number and different names.

Some would say that paying for credit monitoring isn’t necessary, and that a consumer is better off putting that money toward paying off debt or into savings. But there may be some situations that would make having credit monitoring worthwhile.

If you are going through a credit repair, it will be cheaper to monitor your credit score through a service, rather than ordering your credit score each month. Watching your credit score allows you to know whether the actions you are taking in credit recovery are effective.

A credit monitoring service can also help you keep an eye on your credit if your Social Security number has been stolen and a thief is using it to open accounts in your name.

There are many services out there that offer credit monitoring and identity theft protection, and many of them offer a free trial. The catch is that if you sign up for one of the free trials, it is very likely you’ll forget to cancel it after the trial period has passed. You may even forget about it until you see the charge appear on your credit card bill. Credit monitoring companies do not send you a notice that they’re about to charge your credit card, which is required at sign-up.

It all comes down to this: can you effectively keep an eye on your credit yourself, or do you need help? If you find you need assistance, a credit monitoring service is the right choice for you.

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