Best Online Identity Theft Solutions
Before I kick things off I want to apologize for my lack of frequency in posting articles. I have recently had an episode with one of my credit cards which took up a lot of my time. The episode involved identity theft. This is a subject that most people, including me, take very lightly. Unfortunately, just like health insurance, it is something hopefully you will never need, but it is great to have it when things do go wrong. Because of my incident I wrote this article on the best identity theft service solutions.
First let me paint the picture for you. According to the Javelin Strategy and Research 2007 February Research
- The number of US adult victims of identity fraud was 8.4 million in 2007
- Total one year fraud amount was $49.3 billion in 2007
I discovered that my credit card number was stolen when I went to pay my bills at the end of the month. For some reason I was locked out of my account. I thought it was kind of strange so I decided to call the BofA hot line to see what was going on. The 5 hours of torture that ensued I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
BofA told me my account was locked because of possible fraudulent activity. Thank god they caught it I thought to myself, boy was I wrong. I asked what the damage was and they told me about 5,000, which is pretty much my whole credit line and more than I had in the bank.
I asked BofA to unlock my account to which they asked for my account number. The problem was I recently moved so I did not have any statements. Since I could not log on, I could not access it through the internet either. I was stuck up a creek without a paddle. After 5 hours of trying to convince them of who I was they finally reversed the charges.
I am lucky that I am just starting out my life and when someone got a hold of my credit card I did not have much to loose. A few thousand dollars in the bank, no house, no family and no assets. Imagine if someone got into my account when I have my life savings in there, or my kids college fund. I am sure reversing a few thousand dollars was no big deal, but the bank would be much more hesitant to take a hit when its in the tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I know you might be telling yourself that you keep up with your finances regularly. Well I am here to tell you that with your busy schedule and various accounts there is no way you can track every transaction. The identity thief is sneaky and trickles money out slowly right from under your nose.
What is your peace of mind worth. For the price of one pizza you can have the best in the business monitor your credit 24 hours 7 days a week, sending you alerts if any suspicious activity occurs. In addition they can repair your credit score. In these times your credit is more important than ever, so ensuring your credit stays true is very important.
Two of the best online identity theft solutions are:
Identity Truth - If you want to monitor your identity this is a great service. They monitor your key indicators 24 7 to give you the very first alert to anything that might be someone trying to hijack your identity.
Trusted ID - Another great service especially if you have already fallen victim to credit card identity theft or think you may have. As a special bonus I was able to get them to offer 45 dollars off
