If I sign up for Identity Guard today, will I get immediate knowledge of opened credit to date?

Q:  If I sign up for Identity Guard today, will I get immediate knowledge of opened credit to date?

A:  Yes, if you sign up for Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® today, you will find out about the lines of credit opened in your name to date. That's because when you sign up for Identity Guard, you'll receive access to your 3-bureau credit report—a summary of your credit history as provided by each of the 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Within this summary are all of the credit accounts included in your current credit history as well as the payment history for each account over the last 24 months. You'll also get your credit scores from all 3 credit bureaus for free.

It's important to note that over time, some information does fall off your credit reports. Positive account information remains in your credit report for at least 10 years. Delinquent payment information remains on your credit report for 7 years from the date of delinquency.

We really like Identity Guard as both a credit monitoring and identity theft protection service, and right now they are offering a free 30-day trial and 25% off the subscription price to NextAdvisor readers.

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Zappos hack exposes passwords for 24 million customers

Last Sunday night Zappos.com, the online retailer of shoes and clothing owned by Amazon.com, had its server hacked. The hackers gained access to the personal information of its 24 million customers, including name, email address, billing and shipping address, phone number, the last four digits of their credit card number, and a "cryptographically scrambled" version of their website password. (Note: the database that stores critical credit card and other payment data was NOT affected or accessed.)

Although the actual stolen passwords were encrypted, it is possible for the hackers to unencrypt them. Zappos advised that if customers use the same password for multiple websites, like Amazon or eBay, those accounts may also be at risk, and they recommended that you change your password on any other web site where you use the same or a similar password. Zappos also expired all 24 million customer passwords for their own website, asking customers to visit Zappos.com and create a new password.

While creating a new password may seem like the end of troubles for Zappos.com customers, the amount of personal information the hackers were able to access is disturbing.  Stephen B. Wicker, Cornell professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering who focuses on networking technology and law has this to say about it:  "Large databases of consumer information can be used for identity theft…..information about a customer can be used to ‘de-anonymize’ other databases on other Web sites, further invading customer privacy. Correlation attacks enabled by such data have been shown to strip anonymity from NetFlix, AOL and other databases that were assumed safe."  Additionally, just by using a customer's email address and some other personal information like their shipping address, identity thieves can run phishing schemes to trick customers into providing more personal information like their password or credit card number.

If you're concerned about the amount of personal information you may have floating around on the Internet, we recommend signing up for a good identity theft protection service. Many of these services will monitor the Internet black market, public records and other locations for the suspicious use of your personal information.  We particularly like Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION®, and right now Identity Guard is offering a free 30-day trial and 25% off the subscription price to NextAdvisor readers.

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NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS: Monitor My Finances Better

Want to get better control over your finances in 2012? A good way to do that is to start monitoring your credit. Why? Business, banks, lenders and even rental agencies can rely heavily on your credit scores and credit background when deciding whether to do business with you. Having good credit can make you eligible for the best rates and deals, and can keep down-payments and deposits to a minimum, saving you money. Having bad credit can mean higher interest rates, larger down payments and deposits, and being turned down for any number of loans or services you apply for.

Not sure what your credit score is or just want to monitor your credit more closely? Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION®, our top-rated credit monitoring service, is offering NextAdvisor readers 25% off, plus a free 30-day trial. Identity Guard provides 3-bureau credit monitoring, free 3-bureau credit scores at sign up and a free Internet Security suite with your membership. To learn more about Identity Guard and to get this deal, click here.

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Identity Guard announces kID Sure protection for your children

Identity Guard has launched an identity theft protection service just for children—kID Sure. kID Sure utilizes advanced scanning technology to search for the fraudulent use of your child's personal information, including  Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and public record data. It searches the Internet black market, pre-credit sources (such as utility and telecommunications) and thousands of databases (including public records) to help protect your child from identity theft.

Most people aren't aware that identity thieves actively target minors, stealing their Social Security numbers and reselling them for fraudulent or illegal use. Common identity theft opportunities that thieves exploit include such seemly safe activities like school and sports registration. Once the theft occurs it can be undetected for years and cause substantial damage. That's where kID Sure comes in – it can help detect the exposure of your child's personal information and alert you when it occurs.

kID Sure requires the enrollment of the child's guardian or parent in our top-rated Identity Guard's adult identity protection service first. Once you've signed up for Identity Guard you can add kID Sure to your account for just $4.99/month per child. Right now NextAdvisor readers can get an exclusive 25% off Identity Guard and a free 30-day trial, bringing the price down from $19.99/month to just $14.99/month. That means you can protect yourself and your child for the reduced price of $19.98/month ($14.99/month + $4.99/month).

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Does Identity Guard monitor my bank accounts too?

Q: Does Identity Guard monitor my bank accounts too?

A:  Yes, Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® monitors the Internet black market for any bank account numbers you register.  It also scans for the fraudulent use of your credit cards, Social Security number, address and other personal information.  Although Identity Guard automatically starts monitoring the SSN, address and credit card you sign up with, you'll need to manually enter your bank accounts and any other credit cards into your account.  Make sure you do so, because if you don't register this additional information you won't be taking full advantage of the comprehensive Identity Guard service.

In addition to proactively monitoring for your personal information, Identity Guard also provides 3-bureau credit monitoring, free 3-bureau credit scores at sign up and a free Internet Security suite with your membership.  Right now Identity Guard, our top-rated identity theft protection service, is offering NextAdvisor readers a special deal – a free 30-day trial and 25% discount.  That means you'll get 3-bureau credit scores and a public records report for free when you sign up for the trial, and they are yours to keep even if you cancel.  You'll also get a whopping $5.00 off, bringing the monthly price down from $19.99 to $14.99.  All-in-all a pretty darn good deal.

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How accurate is the Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION credit score compared to the credit score the bank uses?

Q:  We are working on applying for a home loan, but need to get our scores up. How accurate is the Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION credit score compared to the ones the bank uses? 

A:  Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® credit scores were very, very close to FICO credit scores in our (non-formal) testing among 8 different people.  Identity Guard uses the CreditXpert brand of credit scores which we believe is a good approximation of what your FICO score might be.  Banks typically use FICO brand credit scores, but this is not always the case.  It is impossible to predict which credit scores your particular bank uses, but a good way to find out is to call and ask them.

If you're working on improving your credit scores, Identity Guard includes a useful credit analyzer tool that lets you try out different financial actions to see how they might affect your credit score.  For example, you can experiment with making loan payments, transferring balances and opening or closing credit accounts.  The credit analyzer tool will take your existing credit score, factor in the change and simulate what your new credit score would be. This is a pretty nifty way to help determine which actions may help your credit score the most.

Right now Identity Guard is offering a free 30-day trial, during which you'll get free 3-bureau credit scores,  a free public records report and free Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite.  Even if you cancel during the trial period, you'll get to keep all these goodies free of charge, so it's a great time to try Identity Guard out and see if you like it.

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Can a Credit Freeze be Activated at all 3 Credit Agencies with Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION?

Q:  Can a credit freeze be activated at all 3 credit agencies with Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION?

A:  Identity Guard® TOTAL PROTECTION will walk you through the steps to set a fraud alert at each of the 3 credit bureaus.  Identity Guard will not help you set up credit freezes. You can always do this on your own although there is typically a cost that varies on a state by state basis.

If you're interested in an identity theft service that will set credit freezes for you, Trusted ID IDEssentials is an excellent choice. Trusted ID features an add on to their service called CreditLock that will do this on your behalf. There is a cost of $44.95 to lock your credit reports with all 3 bureaus and $39.95 to unlock them, but you would have to pay even if you did it on your own. Trusted ID is one of our top reviewed identity theft protection services and offers a free 14-day trial to NextAdvisor readers.

Before you move forward, it's a good idea to distinguish between what a fraud alert and a credit freeze are.  A fraud alert is set for 90 days and asks the 3 major credit bureaus to verify your identity by using "reasonable policies and procedures" prior to opening an account in your name.  Typically this means they will call you to confirm.  A credit freeze completely prevents any new creditors from being able to access your credit report for any reason.   To learn more about the differences between credit freezes and fraud alerts see our Fraud Alert and Credit Freeze Guide.

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Do I Have To Sign Up For Identity Theft Protect and Credit Monitoring Separately?

Q:  I am interested in signing up for identity theft protection and also credit monitoring.  Do I need to sign up for each individually?

A:  No, you don't.  Our top-rated Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® provides both comprehensive identity theft protection and thorough 3-bureau credit monitoring.  Upon signup for their free 30-day trial, you'll also receive free 3-bureau credit scores, a free public record report and free Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite software – yours to keep even if you cancel during the trial period.  We like Identity Guard so much, we even rated them #1 in our identity theft protection reviews and credit monitoring reviews.

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How can I get identity theft protection for my daughter?

Q:  How can I get identity theft protection for my daughter?

A:  Good question!  A couple of our top-rated identity theft protection services offer protection for your children too.  Most people don't realize it, but children are easy prey for identity thieves because their lack of credit history means they usually don't have any credit records.  Therefore, the occurrence of credit-related identity theft can go undetected for quite some time. And even if a child does have a credit report it typically isn't checked until after they turn 18, which means fraudulent activity could have happened without anyone being aware of it. That's why it's a good idea to subscribe to an identity theft protect service that will help protect your child.

Both of these services we discuss below are highly recommended by NextAdvisor, and are great choices to help protect your children from identity theft.  They both also offer free trials to NextAdvisor readers, so you can give them a test drive without reaching into your pocketbook.

TrustedID's IDFreeze will protect your entire family, including your spouse and children, for just $13.46 per month (with annual prepay). The only requirement is that everyone has to be living at the same address. IDFreeze will monitor the Internet black market for your child's Social Security number, bank accounts, name and address. It also monitors the Internet and public records for any changes to or misuse of your child's name, address, or Social Security number. In addition your child will be given an Identity Threat Score which provides a gauge of his/her individual risk level.  Right now Trusted ID is offering NextAdvisor readers a free 14-day trial, so you can test drive it free of charge and see if it's a good fit.

Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® features an add-on service called kID Sure. kID Sure monitors the Internet black market for your child's Social Security number (SSN) and registered bank account numbers, scans public records for you child's SSN and name, and provides ongoing monitoring of applications submitted using a child's data. It also features ID Risk Assessment^® of your child's current risk level for identity theft.  Although kID Sure requires that you sign up for Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION first ($14.99/mo with NextAdvisor discount), it's just an extra $4.99 per month per child. Identity Guard is extending NextAdvisor reader a 30-day free trial of their TOTAL PROTECTION service, so you can see if the service is to your liking before adding kID Sure to it (Note: there is no free trial for kID Sure).

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Protect Your Children's Identity with Identity Guard's New kID Sure Service

Did you know that children can also be victims of identity theft? In fact, they are more attractive targets for identity theft because their credit is usually clean and their identity isn’t as closely monitored as adults’ identity. Thieves can create a whole new identity with just a child’s social security number, and can cause serious problems when the child turns 18 and starts applying for credit cards, students loans or any other type of credit.

Identity Guard’s new kID Sure service helps protect your child’s identity. kID Sure monitors a wide range of data sources to track your child’s social security number and public records, as well as any applications for cell phones or credit cards. Another interesting feature of kID Sure is the Risk Assessment, which determines the risk factor of your child’s identity. The service is $4.99 and available to new and existing Identity Guard customers, so if you aren’t an Identity Guard customer, read our review here and get an exclusive 18% discount and a 30-day trial.

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