Clark Howard On ID Theft Services

I've been a long time listener of Clark Howard. It is hard not to appreciate the solid advice on how to save money and not "get ripped off". With the expansion of competing services targeted at consumers to protect from identity theft, it can be difficult knowing who to trust or what criteria to use in selecting a service.

After 4 years in the ID theft protection business, ID Safeguards launched a new consumer identity theft protection service earlier this week called FraudStop. FraudStop is distinctive in that it provides exactly this kind of personal service to victims of identity theft. The company has a team of experienced "recovery advocates" that, if a FraudStop member falls victim to identity theft, will personally take on their case and do everything necessary on their behalf to restore them to pre-theft condition.

By then, you'll probably have forgotten you signed up, and you'll wonder what those mysterious charges are on your statement every month. If you do carry balances on your cards, credit protection insurance is still a very bad deal. To see why, let's look at the math here. 100 of balance carried on the card.

42.50 per month to buy the insurance. 510 under this scenario. That's equivalent to paying an extra 10% in annual interest! A light bulb should be shining over your head right about now. 42.50 per month and use it to pay down the balance faster, 167.50, you'll have the debt paid off in only 40 months!

5,435.22 in interest charges. It simply makes no sense to waste this money , especially when you consider that the credit protection plan is normally only good for 12-24 months anyway. There's another important factor involved here. Credit protection is also a bad deal because the eligibility requirements are so very restrictive. When you read the fine print, you'll realize that there are all kinds of situations that aren't covered. Let's say, for example, that you've been fighting a medical condition for some time. So you buy the insurance thinking it's a good idea.

Eventually, you end up in the hospital for treatment and recovery. Can you breathe a little easier knowing your credit card payments are covered, Nope. Most of these policies have exclusions for pre-existing conditions. And there are numerous other loopholes that allow the bank to deny your claim under the policy.

Link digital accounts to a credit card. While many consumers opt to link financial apps to their bank account or debit card, a credit card is often a better option to benefit from multiple layers of protection. Matt Meyer, vice president of IT and chief intelligence officer of BrightStar Credit Union. Some institutions also use debit cards as a form of authentication and a compromised card could lead to a complete account take over, Meyer adds.

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Anna Laitin, director of financial policy with Consumers Union, said the group generally recommended freezes rather than locks, since rules for freezes are established by law but those for locks, a service designed by the credit bureaus, may change. “Consumers will know what they’re getting with a freeze,” she said. When will free credit freezes be available,

The consumer credit rules in the new law take effect 120 days after the law was enacted, so most likely sometime in September. Equifax’s freezes were already free through June 30, as part of the company’s response to last year’s data breach. TransUnion and Experian didn’t immediately respond to inquiries about when they will end freeze fees. How do I place a freeze on my credit file, You can do it by phone or by filling out a form on the website of each of the three credit bureaus.



You’ll receive a personal identification number that you must use to lift the freeze if you want to apply for a loan or a credit card. Does the new law offer freeze protection to children, Yes. The law allows parents or guardians of children under 16 to freeze a child’s credit file. If a child doesn’t have a credit file — which is often the case — the law directs the bureaus to create one, and then freeze it.