1. Credit Monitoring often only monitors one credit bureau. Since creditors don’t always report to all three credit bureaus, you may be missing out on important notifications.
2. Speed of notification is a problem. Some credit monitoring services report only once per week. In addition, delays in reporting information by the credit bureaus means notifications could take up to 45 days to go out. Consumers need information quickly if their identities are in jeopardy.
3. Credit monitoring is reactive and not proactive. It doesn’t stop the issuance of credit to an identity thief. It only notifies you that someone has opened an account in your name or has inquired about credit in your name.

Reviewing your Credit Reports, adding Fraud Alerts to your credit files and Credit Card/Social Security Number Monitoring are much more effective ways to prevent identity theft.

Instead of paying for credit monitoring, do the monitoring yourself by ordering copies of your credit report from all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and review them carefully. There can be significant differences between your reports at the three bureaus, depending on which bureau each of your creditors report to.

Four months after ordering your first bureau report, order a copy of your report from the next bureau, and four months after that, the third credit bureau. This way, you get a free copy every four months. Review the reports carefully for any unexpected activity or accounts you don’t recognize.

Adding a fraud alerts to your credit report warns potential creditors to contact you by phone before granting credit in your name. Would you rather

1. Get a phone call from a credit asking if you applied for credit or
2. Wait to get an email from a credit monitoring service letting you know an account has been opened in your name?

I think the answer is obvious.

Lastly, none of the credit monitoring services offers proactive monitoring of social security numbers and credit card. The latest identity theft prevention technology scourers internet chat rooms, FTP sites, and other directories and sites for signs of social security number and credit card number fraud. A recent Gartner Group consulting firm report states that this type of monitoring may “overtake credit-report monitoring as an effective identity theft tool by year-end 2009.” See our premium identity protect for more details on this technology.

Without a charge, freeIDENTITYprotect will guide you through the easy steps to access your free credit reports and will notify you every 4 months that it is time to order a new report. The service will also help you add a fraud alert to your credit report and will notify you when it is time to renew it.

A 6 year old vision has finally come to fruition today with the launch of freeIDENTITYprotect.com. You no longer need to search the internet for hard to find means of protecting your identity, nor do you have to pay for identity theft protection services that are and always should be free.

Identity theft is on the rise as it is very hard to catch those that perpetrate the crime. I believe the launch of freeIDENTITYprotect.com could not come at a better time, with consumer awareness of identity theft at an all-time high primarily due to the myriad paid services and the media.

freeIDENTITYprotect consolidates the best-of-breed free services available today in one location. The free services include access to credit reports, credit bureau fraud alerts, credit card offer reduction, National Do-Not-Call List access and a junk email reduction service. Even if you are already a user of these services on the internet, freeIDENTITYprotect could not make enrolling any easier. My favorite component is the visual dashboard providing access to all available services complete with step-by-step and video instruction. You also receive alerts notifying you when the services expire and it’s time to renew or order new credit reports.

Ok, so what’s the catch you may be asking. What do I have to buy? Other than buying me lunch if you are ever in town, the answer is zero, zilch, zippo! You don’t have to buy a thing unless you want to upgrade to the paid version of the service offering additional levels of protection (coming in March 2008).

Fraudsters are using more sophisticated techniques to steal identities and make money. A large underground black market for stolen personal credentials exists on the internet. These credentials include credit card and social security numbers and are just a few clicks away from fraud or identity theft. That’s why freeIDENTITYprotect has partnered with Cyveillance, also known as the “World Leader in Cyber Intelligence”, to deliver the latest internet monitoring technology to alert you if your credit cards or social security number have been compromised.

The paid version of the service, also known as premiumIDENTITYprotect, combines credit card and social security number monitoring with $25,000 AIG identity theft insurance with no deductible, professional restoration services in the event of identity fraud and a $1 million service Guarantee.

I personally know people who have had their identities stolen and it took them months to restore their good credit. I am sure they would have preferred to have a trained agent guiding them through the restoration process.

Just because you have identity theft protection, doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Be vigilant and don’t ever put your social security number on the side of a bus. Be aware of your surroundings as I discuss in my recent blog Pump Up Your Protection. You will find additional resources on the FTC website www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/about-identity-theft.html. Be aware, as it is an effective weapon against many forms of identity theft.

We hope you enjoy freeIDENTITYprotect.com as much as we are enjoying bringing the service to you. We look forward to your feedback.

Click. Protect. Be Free.

Gas expands when it is warmer. Filling your tank first thing in the morning when the gas and your tank is cool will save you about $.15-$.20 per tank. This more than makes up for the $.03 extra the station makes.

I know many people will take advantage of others when given the opportunity. Staying on the gas station theme, identity thieves are becoming bolder and taking advantage of trusting gas station patrons. Here are a few well known scams that are easily avoided:

• Take your keys with you when you fill up your tank especially when you have family waiting in the car while you pump. I hear many stories of cars stolen with the kids still strapped in the back seat while the owner is watching the pump.
• While some trusting gas station patrons are sliding their credit card in the card reader, an identity thief pulls up next to the passenger door, or walks up to the door, opens it and takes the purse or wallet on the passenger seat. The driver doesn’t know it happened until they get home and look for their wallet. Within hours, those stolen credit cards are added to an organized crime internet site used solely to buy and sell credit card numbers. It could show up in an IRC chat room, a web site designed to buy and sell cards or an FTP site. This is a growing multimillion dollar market and is run primarily by organized crime units. Keep your passenger doors locked when pumping gas.
• Credit cards are not just stolen from gas stations. They are also stolen from gym lockers, restaurant card readers and retail stores and any other place they are used. Keep an eye on your credit cards at all times when they are being swiped, so you know they were not swiped through a second card skimmer used to record the card number.

It’s time to pump up your awareness of identity theft. In this arena, knowledge is power. Check back often for additional insight and tips on protecting your identity.

Be safe.

First, if you don’t check your credit report at least every four months, I advise you to do so.  You can obtain a free credit report once per year from each of the three major credit bureaus at www.annualcreditreport.com.  If you space out the reports, every 4 months you should be looking at a free credit report from one of the three credit bureaus.

After reviewing the credit report, save a copy in a safety deposit box or fire proof safe.  This preserves a record of what your credit looks like today.  In the event of identity theft, the problem will be easier to repair if this record is available.  Every four months when a new credit report is obtained, it is added to the safety deposit box.  After one year, three credit reports will be stored.  When the fourth report is obtained, replace the last report from that bureau with the new report.  This way, you always have the most current three credit reports available.  Make sure to shred discarded reports.

Additionally, copy everything in your wallet (front and back) and any credit cards, social security cards, medical cards etc that may not be in your wallet and keep that information in the safety deposit box with your credit report.   Make sure you label the copies from your wallet “WALLET”.  In the event your wallet or purse is stolen, you have an immediate source of valuable information about what exactly is in the hands of a thief.  You also have the 800 numbers of all the credit card companies.  You can immediately call them and let them know of the theft.  Update this photocopy at a minimum once a year.

In future blogs, I will discuss additional preventative measures to protect against Identity Theft.  However sometimes it is out of your control, such as a database breach of a company you do business with.  It’s best to be prepared in the event it happens to you.