Zonealarm security activate identity theft services

After signing up for TrustedID, one of our testers applied for instant credit at The Gap. Debix can call up to three numbers until it finds you.Д«ut in real-world tests, our results varied widely. When a creditor calls the number, DebixвЂ™s automated voice network calls your phone and lets you approve or deny the transaction by entering a PIN.

Debix (which powers LoudSiren) provides its own contact number for lenders. LifeLock and TrustedID contact the bureaus and set the alert.

These services set their alerts in different ways. To address the lapses in coverage, companies such as Debix, LifeLock, LoudSiren, and TrustedID will renew alerts every three months for $9 to $13 a month. And if you tell one credit bureau to set up a fraud flag, itвЂ™s obliged to notify the other two. By law, you can place a temporary fraud alert on your credit report, requiring lenders to verify your identity before issuing credit in your name. At least, thatвЂ™s how itвЂ™s supposed to work. If credit monitoring is a burglar alarm that goes off when someone steals your identity, a fraud alert is a deadbolt that prevents break-ins. Tim Walston, a senior vice president for Intersections, explains that the ads are provided for people who may want to obtain fresh reports between Identity GuardвЂ™s quarterly updates. One particular annoyance: Our account page advertised services already covered under the Total Protection plan, inviting unwary consumers to buy the same services twice under different names. Unfortunately, we found Identity GuardвЂ™s interface confusing and its customer service line unhelpful. We signed up for Identity GuardвЂ™s $17-per-month Total Protection planвЂ“which provides credit monitoring, credit scores, security software, and public-records searches that identify names, addresses, and property associated with your identity, along with things like licenses, tax liens, and criminal convictionsвЂ“and it alerted us to every change made in our credit reports. We had better luck with Identity Guard, whose parent company, Intersections, provides identity-theft protection sold through Citibank, Equifax, GE, and other firms. Whenever we accessed our account or received an e-mail alert, we had to wade through advertisements for credit scores, low-cost credit cards, and other services. Using TrueCredit was truly annoying in other ways. вЂњThe likely explanation is that had not yet completed the processing required on their end by the time the first two inquiries were made,вЂќ says Steve Katz, a spokesperson for TrueCreditвЂ™s parent company, TransUnion. A third test a month later was more successful.

The first two times our tester tried to open a new credit account, TrueCredit failed to issue an alert. First we signed up for TrueCreditвЂ™s three-in-one monitoring service, which promises to deliver e-mail alerts from all three bureaus for $15 a month. Our real-world tests of two major credit-monitoring services yielded mixed results. Furthermore, if you receive an alert about a dubious inquiry, youвЂ™ll have to identify it as bogus and contact the credit bureaus on your own. Most monitoring services offer online credit reports, online credit scores (showing your chances of obtaining credit), and tools for managing and improving your credit rating.Д«ut a credit-monitoring service wonвЂ™t tell you if someone steals your credit card and runs up huge bills for that you must check your monthly billing statements. If a thief opens new accounts in your name, youвЂ™ll usually find out within a few days. But you can do many of the things these services offer to do, at no cost except for the effort (see вЂњ DIY Identity-Theft Protection: A 12-Step ProgramвЂќ for details).ДЇor $5 to $20 per month, a credit-monitoring service will alert you whenever your report changes. In fact, some credit bureaus and banks that facilitated the spread of easy creditвЂ“and in the process unwittingly made identity theft a more profitable crimeвЂ“now sell services to help you avoid having your identity pilfered.ДЇor $10 to $20 a month, a company such as LifeLock or TransUnion will monitor your credit reports, alert you if anyone opens an account in your name, and help you recover fraudulent charges.

Identity theft is a national epidemic, but some firms also see it as a marketing opportunity. The odds that it will happen to you are about one in five, according to surveys conducted by the Chubb Group. In 2007, 8 million to 15 million Americans had their identities stolen. Over the past three years, more than 220 million private records have been lost or stolen, according to the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. You canвЂ™t open a newspaper or a browser without reading about some data spill that has put consumersвЂ™ personal information at risk.

Zonealarm security activate identity theft services