In 2007, more than eight million people were victims of identity theft. The average victim of identity theft will spend hours and hours on the phone, writing letters, sending emails and documents, and doing other tasks to try and recover their money, repair their credit, and get their lives back to normal. Sometimes, it even takes years.
Because of the threat of identity theft, many people are taking steps to secure their identities and protect themselves. One way they are doing this is via identity theft protection services, such as Lifelock. This company has made headlines recently after its founder advertised his own social security number in an attempt to show people how well their system works.
Lifelock works by monitoring your credit reports and making sure your name is removed from lists that make it easy to have credit cards opened in your name or your identity stolen, like credit card mailing lists and other special offers. Services such as Lifelock basically act as added protection against identity theft and can catch attempts to misuse your Social Security number or
What are the pros and cons of Lifelock?
If you are considering using a service like Lifelock to protect your social security number, identity, and credit, consider the following pros and cons of Lifelock:
Pros
• Guarantee. Lifelock is famous for their million dollar Service Guarantee, meaning if you do happen to get your identity stolen, or your social security number misused, then the company will give you a million dollars. This is obviously a pro in a number of ways; if your identity is stolen, you will come out of it much wealthier, but typically when a company offers such a high guarantee, you can be confident that their services actually work.
• Low monthly cost. Lifelock charges $10 per month to safeguard your credit and Social Security number. For some people, this is a small price to pay for peace of mind. This is particularly the case for those who have experienced identity theft firsthand and know the hassle and stress it causes, or those who have seen friends deal with identity theft.
• Less for you to do. While most of the services Lifelock provides are things you can do yourself for free, they are still time consuming and can be a hassle. Lifelock will take care of all of it for you, so it is one less thing to do.
Cons
• You can do it yourself. Pretty much everything that Lifelock will do for you — monitor your credit, put you on opt-out mailing lists, and so forth, are things you can do yourself for free, and they are fairly easy to do. Once done, there is very little you need to do. For some people, this doesn’t justify even $10 a month to do it when you can do it yourself.
Overall, there are many advantages of Lifelock and few disadvantages. The main advantages are the protection of your identity by people in the business who know exactly how to protect your identity and will do it for $10 a month. This provides peace of mind for many people and is more than worth it. On the other hand, for those who are looking to save money, you can do the same things that Lifelock does for free yourself, if you have the time and are willing to do so.
