Does Lifelock Actually Protect and Monitor Your Identity and Credit? A Review
Lifelock is a rapidly growing identity theft protection company from Arizona that proactively prevents theft rather than just reporting it and alerting you. Unlike a credit monitoring service, Lifelock actually locks down your credit information by placing fraud alerts on your accounts. This way, any financial institution must contact you before creating new accounts, credit cards in your name, cell-phone contracts, mortgages, etc. They also remove you from junk mail and pre-approved credit card offer lists, documents you usually throw out and are gold for thieves.
Let’s be clear here. Everything Lifelock does you can do yourself. Yes, that’s right. Simply phone each credit bureau and request a lock be placed on your account. Then find all the major direct marketing agencies and ask them to take your name off their list. However, and this is why Lifelock is so popular - people don’t have time to do all this. As an example, you have to re-apply to place fraud alerts on your credit every 90 days! Lifelock will renew everything for you, and this is why they have a rapidly growing client base. For some, the major reduction in junk mail alone is worth it.
Lifelock does not call itself a credit monitoring service, but an identity theft prevention service. Rather than monitoring your credit reports and warning you of a suspicious change, they place locks to prevent thieves from accessing your information in the first place. Put another way - instead of letting you know that a potential thief is possibly already using your good name, you are asked permission beforehand to let someone view your information or apply for credit.
No lock is perfect, of course. If a thief does manage to impersonate you and ruin your credit while you are a client, Lifelock has a $1 million Total Service Guarantee. They will do everything they can to fix the problem and give you back your good name, at their expense, for up to one million dollars.
Features include:
- Setting fraud alerts on all your credit reports, so that financial institutions and companies requesting your credit report are notified and requested to contact you direct for permission to even look at your credit.
- WalletlockTM gives you the piece of mind that if your wallet is stolen or goes missing, Lifelock will help you contact all companies associated with your documents, including canceling affected accounts and helping you with the paperwork to replace everything. This includes your driver’s license, credit cards, debit cards, social security card, insurance cards, checkbook and your traveler’s checks
- Automatic ordering of your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion once per year
- Reduction in junk mail and pre-approved credit card offers by removing your information from marketing lists
- Optional protection for children and students - Children are the fastest growing segment of identity theft, as thieves are quickly realizing that very few people think to check their children’s reports until age 16. Lifelock will check every six months to make sure there is no credit history under their name. If there is, fraud alerts will be issued stating that this person is a minor and should not have a credit history.
- If your identity is stolen, Lifelock will do everything possible to fix your good name, at their expense, for up to $1 million dollars.
- $120 per year per adult, and $25 per year per child up to age 16
Ready to fight for your credit and identity? Enroll now! - Save 10% with this link
This content current as of March 26,2008
