Identity Guard adds $1 million dollar identity theft insurance
Posted by Joe on April 13th, 2009
Thanks for visiting the NextAdvisor Daily blog. You may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.
Today Intersections Inc, the parent company of Identity Guard, is announcing a $1 million insurance policy for subscribers that covers certain identity theft related losses. This policy will be available to current and future subscribers at no additional charge.
Identity Guard is the only service that has received a five star rating on both our identity theft protection and credit report monitoring service comparisons. We believe that the added protection of this million dollar loss-reimbursement insurance policy makes the service an even better value for consumers that are looking to keep a close eye on their credit health while protecting their identity online and in the real world.
You can learn more about Identity Guard and other identity theft protection services or credit report services by visiting our reviews and comparisons.
- Identity Guard adds 30 day free trial and free ZoneAlarm software
- LifeLock's $1 Million Guarantee - Separating Fact From Fiction
- VoIP subscribers to triple in the United States by 2011
- Identity Theft Shield from Kroll and Pre-Paid Legal Review
- Reader Question: What service is best for protecting my identity and monitoring my credit?
I am trying to select the best credit report monitoring service for my needs and have questions. Can I call you?
Posted by Joe on April 8th, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I am trying to select the best credit report monitoring service for my needs and have questions. Can I call you?
A: We would love to be able to address individual questions for each person who visits our website. Unfortunately, it would literally be impossible for us to do so given the many hundreds of thousands of consumers that visit our site each month. So we try to focus on having as much detailed information as possible on our website about each service.
When it comes to selecting a credit reporting service there are a couple of things to consider depending on whether your primary goal is to:
- Monitor your credit for any changes as cheaply as possible.
- Receive specific information about your current credit health (particularly if you are going to be applying for a loan in the near future).
- Have on-going access to as much information about your credit as possible.
If you are looking for a cheap way to monitoring your credit, then FreeCreditReport.com is probably your best bet. While this service only provides access to your Experian credit reports and scores (versus all three reports and scores like some other services), it does monitor your credit file at all three bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and alerts you as soon as any changes are posted for just $12.00 per month. This ensures that you can address any negative changes to your credit reports at the earliest possible moment.
If you are in the process of securing a loan or credit of any sort, we would suggest signing up for Equifax with Score Power. Not only does this service provide three bureau monitoring, it also gives you access to your FICO score (based off of your Equifax credit file) which is the type of credit score that most lenders use when make lending decisions. Equifax with Score Power also offers a free three bureau credit report and free FICO score when you sign up for a 30 day free trial, as well as unlimited Equifax credit reports for paying members (the service costs $14.95 per month after the free trial period).
Finally, if you want access to credit report and score data from all three credit bureaus plus three bureau credit reporting monitoring, then we would suggest Identity Guard. This service also has some great features, like free Internet security software for your PC, that will help protect your identity online and in the real world. Identity Guard offers free credit reports and scores from all three bureaus when you sign up for a 30 day free trial, then just costs $14.99 per month thereafter. You will receive all three credit reports and credit scores each quarter as a paying member.
You can learn more about these services and others by visiting our comparison and reviews of credit report monitoring services.
If I install Identity Guard, will it automatically uninstall Norton?
Posted by Joe on April 6th, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I have Norton security on my computer,if I want to download Identity Guard total ptotection in place of Norton will the Identity Guard program automaticaly remove the Norton program and install it self?
A: Identity Guard's Internet security software, which is powered by ZoneAlarm, will not automatically remove your existing anti-virus protection program. We would recommend installing the Identity Guard provided ZoneAlarm software first and then manually removing your Norton Internet security software once you have confirmed that the ZoneAlarm software was properly installed. This will ensure that your PC is never without Internet security protection.
We would suggest following the removal instructions provided by Norton when removing that software from your PC since the process can vary based off of your operating system and the version of the software you are running. That being said, the standard process to manually uninstall a software program from a Windows PC is as follows:
- Click on the "Start" button in the lower right hand of your screen and select "Control Panel" from the menu.
- Double click on "Add or Remove Programs".
- Find the specific software product you would like to uninstall and click on the "Remove" button.
- Follow the on-screen instructions provided by the software provider.
- After you have completed the uninstall process, you will be prompted to restart your computer.
- After restarting your PC, the uninstalled software should be completely removed from your system.
- What is the most recommended software?
- How do I login to my Identity Guard account?
- Identity Guard adds 30 day free trial and free ZoneAlarm software
- Will Carbonite also backup programs and applications in a form that would allow them to be installed and run without the hassle of rebuilding ones pc in a crash?
- Will online backup services also backup a virus or spyware?
Can I cancel after the 30 day free trial?
Posted by Caitlin on February 2nd, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: Can I cancel after the 30-day free trial if I am not happy with [Identity Guard] at no cost?
A: If you are unhappy with Identity Guard, you can cancel within the 30 day free trial at no cost. If you do not cancel within the 30 day period, you will be charged $14.99 per month that you continue your membership. You are free to cancel after the 30 free trial has ended, but you will not be entitled to a refund. To cancel your membership, simply call Identity Guard's customer service center at 1 (800) 452-2541.
To learn more about Identity Guard or other credit report services, see our reviews and comparison chart.
What is the most recommended software?
Posted by Joe on January 22nd, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: What is the most recommended software?
A: Our top rated Internet security software package is Identity Guard with ZoneAlarm. Identity Guard is different than any of of the other products we have reviewed because it includes not just a full Internet security software suite to protect your PC, but also three bureau credit report monitoring and other features to help protect your identity. Identity Guard is priced differently than other security software suites as well. After a free 30 day trial you will be charged $14.99 per month. However, the ZoneAlarm security software is yours to keep whether or not you decide to become a paying member of Identity Guard (keep in mind that you won't receive any of the updated virus definitions if you decide to cancel your Identity Guard membership).
If you are looking for a more traditional Internet security software option, we suggest McAfee. McAfee offers an excellent set of tools to protect your PC and is confident enough in its service that it offers a 30-day money back guarantee. If you are unsatisfied with the software for any reason they will refund your money, no questions asked. Additionally, McAfee is currently 50% off standard price for a limited time, so it is also a great deal at just $39.95 per year.
You can learn more about Identity Guard, McAfee and other providers by visiting our reviews and comparison of Internet security software services.
- Identity Guard adds 30 day free trial and free ZoneAlarm software
- If I install Identity Guard, will it automatically uninstall Norton?
- What is my credit score?
- Identity Theft Shield from Kroll and Pre-Paid Legal Review
- I am trying to select the best credit report monitoring service for my needs and have questions. Can I call you?
Would it be $14.99 per month each for a husband and wife to sign up for Identity Guard?
Posted by Joe on January 22nd, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: Would it be $14.99 per month each for a husband and wife to sign up for Identity Guard?
A: Yes. A husband and wife would each need to sign up for separate Identity Guard accounts which each would cost $14.99 per month after a thirty day free trial. The reason that separate accounts are required is that the husband and wife will each have totally separate credit files with each of the three credit bureaus.
You can learn more about the many features of Identity Guard and other credit report monitoring services by visiting our reviews and comparison at NextAdvisor.com
- Do my spouse and I have one credit report?
- Can we buy one subscription of Carbonite to back up both our computers?
- Reader Question: Will my LifeLock or Equifax account also cover my spouse?
- I am trying to select the best credit report monitoring service for my needs and have questions. Can I call you?
- I understand that I am entitled to 3 free credit reports per year. How do I get this service?
How do I login to my Identity Guard account?
Posted by Joe on January 21st, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I am a member [of Identity Guard], how do I sign on to the member services when I am not on the computer that I signed up with? I need to print my credit reports from a different computer and I can not find a way to the log-in screen.
A: Identity Guard makes it very easy to access your personal information from any computer by using the user ID and password you established when you signed up. Here are the steps to login to your Identity Guard account.
- Visit the Identity Guard website.
- Look in the top right hand corner of the website for a button that says "Account Login" and click on it.
- Enter your user ID and password and click the "Login" button.
If you can't remember your password or user ID:
- Look for the "Forgot User ID or Password" link above the login box and click on it.
- You will be directed to the secure forgotten user ID or password page where you can enter your last name, last four digits of your social security number and zip code. Identity Guard will then send you directions on recovering your user ID or password to the email account you used to sign up for your account.
If you don't have access to the email account you used to sign up for the service or have additional questions, you can contact Identity Guard customer support at 1-800-452-2541. Identity Guard representatives are available through that toll free line between 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. EST Monday through Friday and 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. EST Saturday. Other Identity Guard contact information is available on the website.
- How to report a fake profile page on Facebook
- If I install Identity Guard, will it automatically uninstall Norton?
- How to recover from a lost or stolen iPhone
- How to set up automated online hard drive backups with Mozy
- Facebook phishing scams increase risk of identity theft on the popular social network
I think I have been the victim of identity theft. What can I do?
Posted by Joe on January 16th, 2009
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: I got my social on January of last year and I've been trying to make credit applying for credit cards and they send letters saying that I already have bad credit, and criminal accounts something like that and they call me asking for some payments of the accounts I own, and that I have a loan mortgage. How can that be possible, can you help me to solve this situation? Or give some ideas of what can I do? Thank you I really need help.
A: Unfortunately, it sounds like there is a very good chance that you have been victimized by an identity thief who has opened financial accounts and committed other criminal acts in your name. While recovering from identity theft can be difficult and stressful, it is not impossible. Here are some immediate actions you can take:
1) Contact each of the three credit bureaus and ask them to place a credit freeze on your credit report. There is a small fee in most states for setting a credit freeze, but it will completely lock down your credit file and insure that no further financial accounts are opened fraudulently in your name. Here is the contact information for each of the three credit bureaus:
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
Another option is to set a fraud alert instead of a credit freeze. A fraud alert is an annotation on your credit report that lets potential lenders know that you have reason to believe that you are an identity theft victim. While fraud alerts can be useful in many cases, your situation seems serious enough to warrant a full credit freeze.
2) Get a copy of your credit report from all three credit bureaus. Your credit report will list all the financial accounts that have been opened and reported to the credit bureaus in your name. You can request a free copy of your credit report from each of the credit bureaus when you set a credit freeze or fraud alert. You can also get a credit report instantly by signing up for a free trial of a credit report service like Identity Guard. Once you have your credit reports in hand, review them thoroughly identify any accounts that you don't recognize. Contact the customer support department of each of these suspect accounts and let them know that you believe that the account has been opened fraudulently. Each of these companies will have a different process for dealing with the fraud, but make sure that each of these accounts is closed immediately.
3) File a report with your local police or sheriff's department. Call the non-emergency phone number for your local law enforcement agency and let them know you believe you would like to report an identity theft. You may be able to file your report over the phone or you may have to file it in person.
File an identity theft complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While the FTC can't provide assistance with individual identity theft cases, reporting your case can help identity patterns in identity theft crimes that can help prevent others from being victimized. You can file an identity theft complaint with the FTC at this website:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
4) Consider an identity theft protection service such as Trusted ID or LifeLock to help you prevent being victimized in the future. Each of these services will help mitigate the risk of future identity theft and may be able to provide assistance with your current identity theft issues. You can see a list of all of the identity theft protection services we have reviewed at NextAdvisor.com.
We sincerely hope this information is helpful and wish you the best of luck in your recovery.
- Reader Question: What should I do if I think I have been a victim of identity theft?
- NextAdvisor.com Fraud Alert and Credit Freeze Guide
- Reader Question: How can LifeLock help me if I have already been a victim of identity theft?
- Reader Question: How do I set a fraud alert on my credit report?
- Identity Theft Expert Answers: Robert Siciliano of IDTheftSecurity.com
Why Monitoring Your Credit Score Is More Important Than Ever During The Credit Crisis
Posted by Erik on October 2nd, 2008
As if life weren't hard enough already during this economic downturn, another side effect of the credit crunch is that your credit score could go down even without any negative information being added to your credit report! That's right, even if you're able to continue to pay all your bills on time, and pay off all your credit card balances in full, your credit score may still go down.
Here's why: a key component of your credit score is the percentage of your available credit that you are using. With lenders, such as credit card companies, becoming more strict in their lending standards, many of them are already lowering credit limits for huge numbers of their customers. Their rationale is that even though nothing has changed with the customer's credit profile, the bad economy makes the customer a worse credit risk than they were in a good economy.
Okay, fair enough, but now someone that had $25,000 in available credit might only have $15,000. And that person might have used on average $7,500 of credit each month. Even though that person isn't doing anything differently, they just went from using 30% of their credit to 50%. That's a big difference that will likely lower their credit score significantly!
Worse yet, since lending standards are now more strict, qualifying for the same loan today vs. a year ago requires a higher credit score. But yours will probably be lowered without even doing anything. Of course, your credit score may go down even further if you're unable to pay some of your bills on time.
If this all sounds pretty bad, well, it is. But there are some things you can do about it. First, check your mail. By law credit card issuers must notify you of a change to your credit limit.
Second, monitor your credit score. The best way to do this is to sign up for a credit report and score monitoring service. You can read our comparison of credit monitoring services to find the best one for you. Our top pick is Identity Guard, which gives you reports and scores from all three credit bureaus every quarter, monitors any changes to your credit report at the three bureaus daily, and gives you an amazing array of identity theft protection and internet security features. If you think you might be making a big purchase requiring a loan in the near future, you might opt for CreditCheck Total, which gives you unlimited access to all three credit reports and scores, which means you can check your updated credit score every day if you want. All our top recommendations offer free trials so there is no commitment and you can get your credit scores for free.
Third, if you know that you currently have a good credit score, apply for a new credit card. While the limit may not be as high as you would have qualified for a few months ago, whatever credit you do get can help replace the lowered limits on your existing cards. This is an even better idea if you are carrying a balance on your credit card, as you can take advantage of low or 0 introductory balance transfer rates. Read our comparison of the best balance transfer cards to find the best one for you or if you don't want to transfer a balance, check out our Editor's Choice of the best credit cards in different categories. Of course, if you're credit isn't good, don't apply for a credit card you think you might be declined for because applying for new credit can lower your score slightly.
We hope you find this information helpful. Check back often or consider subscribing to our RSS feed or email list as we will continue to provide tips to help consumers get through these tough economic times.
Data Breach Alert: Wells Fargo notifies 5,000 to 7,000 people that their data has been compromised
Posted by Caitlin on August 14th, 2008
Sometime in May or June, a Wells Fargo bank employee access code was used to steal thousands of Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver's license numbers and, in some cases, credit card numbers. Only a small number of the impacted individuals were actually Wells Fargo customers.
Wells Fargo has sent letters to most of the impacted individuals notifying them of the breach and offering them a one year subscription to Identity Guard. The bank lacks contact information for about 2,400 of the victims, and is currently in the process of finding addresses in order to notify these people as well.
For more information about Identity Guard or other identity theft protection services, see our reviews and comparison.
- Reports of TJ Maxx, Marshalls 15% discount related to massive data breach appear on the web
- Data Breach Alert: Harvard hack exposed more data than initially thought
- 25 million identities left unprotected in the UK
- Data Breach Alert: Thousands of Dominican University students impacted in secure file breach
- Data Breach Alert: Health insurer exposes personal information of 128,000 customers
Categories
Blog Archives
About Us Blog Contact UsTerms & Privacy PolicyAffiliate ProgramSite map
Copyright© 2006 - NextAdvisor.com - All rights reserved.