Warning: An Identity Theft Prevention Service May Not Be Sufficient to Protect you from Identity Theft!

If you do a google search on identity theft you will find a TON of businesses competing for your attention. Take a look at the paid advertisments on the top and right and side of your search results and you'll find these businesses.

The identity theft protection plans are a booming business. There are 10 million victims of identity theft each year, and the media coverage surrounding this crime is growing. As a result, many businesses are trying to cash in on this attention. Thats okay, these plans are helping people avoid identity theft, but you need to be more informed on the benefits of these plans before you spend your money.

When selecting a protection plan keep in mind one important fact...

...they all monitor your credit!

The ads all talk about how they can stop a thief from access to your money, credit, and personal information. They can effectively "stop a criminal" before he ruins your life. I have news for you...YOU CAN TOO! Simply by monitoring your credit, you can stop a criminal before he ruins your life. This is primarily what these companies do...personal credit monitoring, so you dont have to.

Now, if you're lazy like me, thats great. I gladly pay 10 bucks a month for someone to monitor my credit, because I'm too busy to do it myself. However, having said that, I need, and you too, a service that offers more.

When you select a plan, read the fine print of the ads and keep in mind that they ALL monitor your credit. You need something in addition to credit monitoring in order to choose one over the other. When I chose my service, I researched all the ads I could find and found little difference among the providers. The only thing I found that differentiated one from the other was identity theft restoration/recovery service.

In all my research about identity theft, I've learned, and experienced that the recovery process is time consuming and frankly a pain in the butt. When my mom and I were trying to clean up the problems associated with my grandma's identity theft, it not only took a long time, but was emotionally draining for everyone involved. Don't waste your life trying to clean up the mess with your identity theft, get help through a restoration/recovery service. I personally use prepaid legal to monitor my credit and they also provide restoration service. For more information or questions about services or any identity theft issue, contact us.

Now that you know what to look for in a service plan, lets focus on what you need to do to strengthen your identity theft plan because a prevention service can't do it all.

3 things you should do to prevent identity theft...

1. Use a prevention plan that monitors your credit and provides restoration/recovery service

Like I stated above, a prevention plan is critical. You need someone to monitor your credit and warn you when there is a problem. You can do this yourself, but a service will email you monthly and let you know if there is or isn't a problem with your credit. Also, get a prevention plan that offers restoration/recovery service. Your time is too valuable to spend cleaning up an identity theft issue. If you are a victim of more serious identity theft like criminal or medical identity theft, a restoration service will be invaluable.

2. Use everyday identity theft prevention techniques

The easiest way to prevent identity theft is to use common sense. Use a shredder to destroy your personal documents, monitor your credit, and use caution when providing people with your personal information. For more tips check out our page on identity theft prevention.

3. Purchase an identity theft insurance plan

There is controversy on these insurance plans. If you read my page on identity theft insurance plans I break down the pros and cons of these plans. Many "experts" don't think they are necessary, but they will reimburse you for lost expenses associated with your recovery process. They probably don't cover the actual monetary loss a criminal might have taken from you, but you may rack up significant expenses recovering your identity and they will cover those. Make sure you read the fine print before purchasing a plan.

If you use these 3 simple techniques, you're identity will be much more secure than simply buying a protection service. The total cost of this approach should run you less than $20 a month

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