Is Paying for Identity-Theft Protection Worth It?
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How big is the rise in identity-theft reports and why does it matter?
Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, May 10th. I'm Trinae Nuri for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for J.R. Whalen. Identity theft is becoming a lot more common. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received nearly 1.4 million reports of identity theft, double from 2019. That means more people may be thinking about paying for services that help monitor for any issues, protect against them, and clean things up if their personal information gets stolen. But are those services worth it?
People generally can clean their own houses, but some don't have the time, don't enjoy doing it, and can afford not to.
What is identity-theft protection and who is considering paying for it?
And that's really what you might want to think about when it comes to credit monitoring. It's not that you can't do it on your own, but the question is, are you going to? Do you want to put that time in to do it?
Coming up, WSJ contributor Cheryl Winninger-Monk goes through the questions you should ask before dishing out money for identity theft protection. That's after the break.
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Is keeping your personal information safe worth paying for? There are a lot of identity theft protection services out there. But before you cough up the cash for one, what questions do you need to ask to make sure you know what you're getting? To find out, I'm joined now by WSJ contributor Cheryl Winogermunk. Hi Cheryl, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.
What free identity-protection options exist and who offers them?
Cheryl, just to get us started, what kind of impact can identity theft have on your finances? it can really have a crippling effect.
It's like account takeover. It completely can take over who you are and your ability to pay for things and get good credit, to rent an apartment, to buy a car with good rates, to get a mortgage with good rates. It's really sad the effects that identity theft can have on people's credit.
Okay, so let's talk about some ways that you can protect yourself. Generally speaking, what kinds of services are out there?
The types of things that a paid service could offer would be credit monitoring of your bank accounts, social security number, social media, court records, and the dark web. And the dark web is information that's not accessible by normal internet browsers. There are a number of these companies that offer these services.
How can you freeze your credit yourself and what are the hassles?
Sometimes it's a bank. The credit bureaus offer them themselves. There are also insurance companies who offer them. They're really a host of services, so you really just have to do your due diligence.
Now, some of these services could cost extra, but let's talk about the free options first. Who offers them and what do they say they'll do for you?
Free credit monitoring services. A lot of times a bank might offer this on an opt-in basis. Sometimes even there are settlements that have happened because of some major breaches and they're offering free credit monitoring for a certain period of time. You just have to see what these services offer. Sometimes these services only offer will include one credit agency. Sometimes they will have other protective services. You really just have to see what services they're offering. Oftentimes these free services will not offer as comprehensive services as some of the paid services do, but that may not be the case. So you just really have to do your due diligence.
Are there other things you can do yourself without having to pay?
Well, one of the things you can do that's fairly simple but a lot of people don't like to do is freeze your credit or your children's credit, which is also really important to prevent unauthorized use.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
How big is the rise in identity-theft reports and why does it matter?
0:06–0:40
2
What is identity-theft protection and who is considering paying for it?
0:40–1:59
3
What free identity-protection options exist and who offers them?
1:59–2:51
4
How can you freeze your credit yourself and what are the hassles?
2:51–4:03
5
What extra protections do paid identity-theft services provide?
4:03–6:24
6
How much do identity-theft protection plans typically cost and what varies?
6:24–7:33
7
What specific questions should consumers ask when comparison-shopping services?
7:33–7:57
Speakers
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