identity theft

[taters]

a few years ago i had someone try and steal my identity. well last month i signed up for lifelock. it costs $10 a month and they guarantee coverage up to 1 million dollars. so i went for it. i also signed up my daughter. seems like a good deal......taters

[Tony_K]

Wow...

Quite the non sequitur posting personality you have.

Can't wait for the next one.

[Quinn]

Now that I've retired, I'm hoping an illegal immigrant--I meant undocumented worker, sorry--will use my SSN to get a job. I could use the extra income toward my benefits at age 65. Wonder if I could get a tax refund?

[Lawman]

a few years ago i had someone try and steal my identity. well last month i signed up for lifelock. it costs $10 a month and they guarantee coverage up to 1 million dollars. so i went for it. i also signed up my daughter. seems like a good deal......taters

 

That's one thing I don't have to worry about...Nobody wants to be me....

[Ken H.]

Glad you're happy with them, but in actuality they don't do anything you couldn't do on your own. #1 being put an access freeze & fraud alert on your credit reports at all three of the agencies. Cost a one-time US$10 each. And activate the fraud alert feature on all your credit cards. Which is usually free.

[WURTY]

Ken you have my attention.

 

Just how dose one go about putting that freeze and fraud alert on my credit reports ?

[Marty Hill]

Hey Wurty,

 

Send me all your credit cards and I'll handle everything. I'll probably need an additional $50 to solve all your problems.

 

See you in torrey.

[Cheechoo]

I wonder if they even have $1 million to back up even one claim. What if a hacker manages to defeat their system and they get 100 claims? Do you actually think their guaranty would help you? It dies when the company dies, not when you die. A bankruptcy kills all guaranties. Just my thoughts.

[Laura]

a few years ago i had someone try and steal my identity. well last month i signed up for lifelock. it costs $10 a month and they guarantee coverage up to 1 million dollars. so i went for it. i also signed up my daughter. seems like a good deal......taters

 

If you'd rather be proactive get a credit alert system that will let you know when anything changes on your credit report file. It can alert you when any credit card increases by a percentage you set or when an inactive card becomes active or even if someone opens an account using your SS#. It will also alert you if your address changes or any other personal info changes.

 

You usually get an alert a few weeks after whatever it is impacts your credit report file......this is enough time for major damage control.

 

Equifax has a credit alert system that runs about the same cost as your identify theft insurance.

[BrianT]

Now that I've retired, I'm hoping an illegal immigrant--I meant undocumented worker, sorry--will use my SSN to get a job. I could use the extra income toward my benefits at age 65. Wonder if I could get a tax refund?

Until you get a letter from the IRS saying you're being audited or owe them back taxes and penalties due to unreported income. I've seen this happen to a few people and it takes a while and some hair pulling to get it straightened out.

[Ken H.]

Ken you have my attention.

 

Just how dose one go about putting that freeze and fraud alert on my credit reports ?

It's pretty new, all three Transunion, Experian, and Equifax have the info and procedure up on their websites now. It varies a bit from one to the other, but the basics are you send them a request and fee, and from then on no one can access your info without your permission on a case by case basis.

[Ron_B]

Thanks Ken, that's good to know. I would caution however, that if you change insurance carriers, you might have to get the freeze temporarily lifted and then re-applied. I'm pretty sure that extra charges would apply, maybe for both actions.

 

I recently had to change my insurance when my carrier stopped covering motorcycles. As I talked to my agent on the phone, he was accessing my credit on his computer. They can do it that fast.

 

There may be other examples as well.

[Ken H.]

you might have to get the freeze temporarily lifted and then re-applied. I'm pretty sure that extra charges would apply, maybe for both actions.

Yes that is true. You can do it several different ways; allow a specific inquiry, release the freeze for a specific period of time for all inquiries (like if you are shopping for a car loan or something), or globally lift it and have it re-frozen later. But basically it boils down to each time you contact them with a request it cost $10.

[steveknapp]

So to "approve" access costs $10?

[Ron_B]

you might have to get the freeze temporarily lifted and then re-applied. I'm pretty sure that extra charges would apply, maybe for both actions.

Yes that is true. You can do it several different ways; allow a specific inquiry, release the freeze for a specific period of time for all inquiries (like if you are shopping for a car loan or something), or globally lift it and have it re-frozen later. But basically it boils down to each time you contact them with a request it cost $10.

 

Then I guess it would be a good idea to ask your agent which service he uses so you don't have to lift all three. Ten bucks beats thirty!

[ghaverkamp]

Then I guess it would be a good idea to ask your agent which service he uses so you don't have to lift all three. Ten bucks beats thirty!

 

Equifax has this breakdown of fees by state. Right now, you've got to deal with the distinctions between the services the credit bureaus will sell you to secure they data they collect but refuse to properly secure and the various state laws that have been popping up to try to deal with those issues.

 

Where not covered by other laws, the bureaus may also release where there is a prior existing financial relationship. I imagine application to insurance agents is dependent on nature of the relationship.

[DavidEBSmith]

Be aware that when you put a freeze on your credit reports, it will be a major PITA when you apply for credit in the future.

 

When I got some new phones and service from Sprint last year, the CSR did a 3-way call with their credit department, who asked me all sorts of verification questions based on my credit report, things like "who is your current mortgage with?", "you took out a mortgage in 1998 with which one of these 4 banks?", and "what is your current mortgage payment?" To answer the last one, since I don't write the checks, I had to get my wife on the line on another phone to get the answer.

 

Before you put a freeze on your credit, make sure you get copies of all your credit reports so you know what they know (and so you can check to make sure they're correct, because it will be easier to correct errors if they aren't frozen).

 

Also, note that if you have a Citibank credit card, they have an amazing identity theft assistance program. When my ID was stolen, Citibank was the first card I called, and they pulled a copy of my credit report and, while I just hung on the phone, they called every company where the bad guys had opened an account, got through to the fraud department, and took care of it. They did all the work of getting through to the right people, and I basically sat there and said "yes, that's right, this is fraudulent". They also called all the credit bureaus for me and put fraud alerts and freezes on my credit reports. There was no argument, no work on my part other than sending out a few copies of the police report. Except for Sprint, which required a letter to the CEO to get them to pay attention, but you expect that from Sprint.

 

And because of the fraud alerts, the police were actually able to catch one of the guys involved in teh ID theft, and he did some prison time.