It takes 60 seconds to learn if you have been breached. It takes 600 hours+ to fix it.
How bad can being an identity theft victim be? If you have never experienced a personal data breach or viewed a mystery transaction in your bank or credit card account, consider yourself fortunate. Today the number of ID theft reports to law enforcement and government agencies has risen up to challenge drug traffickimg as serious crimes. Try to imagine how it would feel to lose control of your identity. Think of the hours of time lost and money spent to fix the problem. Unpaid debts that are not yours goes to collections. Just imagine having to fight debt collection and credit bureaus over entries made to your credit reports that others who had your personal information generated because they opened up accounts in your name. You have to take back control of your financial security or others will take advantage of your inattention to this important personal matter.
Privacy is a commodity that is being lost and eroded over time. If you value it, you have taken the first step towards fighting identity theft. It is in this murky world of online hacks and loss of control of personal data where identity thieves are able to thrive. Once data is lost to hacking or theft, it is out there with no turning back. There is no way of knowing how it will be used. Take a look at a list of data breaches that have occurred and dispair. You have to take responsibility for all your accounts and that of your family because no one else will. And with the trends to decrease guards of your personal data, you have to take action to protect what is precious to you. With identity theft protection and affordable legal services, you have professionals at your back to keep you safe in the present and fix it if you ever experience a data breach or mystery and costly credit card or bank transactions.
If you love smart device technology, upgrade your online security knowledge to learn how to be a responsible Smart Device home owner. Computer users have a long history of fighting hacks especially when we all started going online to connect with each other in the 1990's. Today it is very important that you are informed of the risks of smart devices that you own and how you can be safe from identity theft.
Imagine someone obtaining your ID with the intent to pay a hospital bill. Consider how high some of these bills are. This would be devasating to you to suddenly be on the hook with a large medical expense that is not yours. How do you fight this? Do you have time or money to pay for legal help? What happens if such a bill goes to collections?
Citizens in the United States of America are allowed one free credit report per year from each of the three credit bureaus according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Once received, consumers can review their credit reports for accuracy and any mystery items found. Some use self-service methods to report errors. Others use services to do it for them. In any case, learn your consumer rights as specified in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you want to receive your credit report more frequently than once per year, check this out with a free trial.
This may be the most alarming and shocking of all identity theft types. You may wonder at first how some families are finding the social security numbers of their childen used to obtain credit cards. But this is happening, causing terrible stress and distress to families nationwide. This is hard to describe and explain. Leave it to this families to tell theire stories in two video presentations below. Identity thieves can harm the credit rating of children before they are old enough to have credit cards or bank accounts. Can you imagine the cost of repairing damaged credit?
Learn about what types of identity theft protection services there are and how they work. Some alert you to unusual or odd activity. You may have experienced a locked credit card when used to purchase something that raised alerts. That may be the price of increased security based upon data analysis - increased false positives. Other services include $1,000,000 ID theft protection insurance. This is true peace of mind because think of lost work time if you have to spend it writing letters, calling credit card companies and visiting your bank to file invalid transaction reports. Think of the costs of sending certified letters and getting legal help if needed. If this causes you to miss bill payments, ties up your bank account or leads you to debt collection, your situation will get worse.