Comments for NextAdvisor Daily http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog Daily resource for independent consumer information and service reviews Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:48:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Kroll Identity Theft Shield identity theft protection service review by Joe Fahrner http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/27/kroll-identity-theft-shield-identity-theft-protection-service-review/#comment-28681 Joe Fahrner Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:39:28 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/27/kroll-identity-theft-shield-identity-theft-protection-service-review/#comment-28681 Hi Ruth, Thank you very much for your comment. While there is no way to prevent 100% of identity theft crimes, there are certainly several identity theft protection services that greatly reduce the risk that their subscribers will be victimized. Identity Theft Shield does not offer any of these types of services which is why we say it does not prevent identity theft. The recovery assistance offered varies by provider. LifeLock does cover some of the types of identity theft you mention. Others, such as ID Watchdog, cover all of those and more. That service also has early warning tools that can catch potential identity theft in its earliest stages and way before it would show up on a credit report. We have received quite a few comments and emails from proponents of Kroll/prepaid legal's identity theft shield product since we posted our review. What is interesting is that most of those communications focused more on the perceived shortcomings of competitive service rather than extolling the virtues of identity theft shield. Are their aspects of identity theft shield that we are not representing accurately in our review? Or, is it simply that identity theft shields proponents believe there is no benefit in making any attempt to prevent identity theft? Thanks, Joe Fahrner NextAdvisor.com Hi Ruth,

Thank you very much for your comment.

While there is no way to prevent 100% of identity theft crimes, there are certainly several identity theft protection services that greatly reduce the risk that their subscribers will be victimized. Identity Theft Shield does not offer any of these types of services which is why we say it does not prevent identity theft.

The recovery assistance offered varies by provider. LifeLock does cover some of the types of identity theft you mention. Others, such as ID Watchdog, cover all of those and more. That service also has early warning tools that can catch potential identity theft in its earliest stages and way before it would show up on a credit report.

We have received quite a few comments and emails from proponents of Kroll/prepaid legal’s identity theft shield product since we posted our review. What is interesting is that most of those communications focused more on the perceived shortcomings of competitive service rather than extolling the virtues of identity theft shield.

Are their aspects of identity theft shield that we are not representing accurately in our review? Or, is it simply that identity theft shields proponents believe there is no benefit in making any attempt to prevent identity theft?

Thanks,
Joe Fahrner
NextAdvisor.com

]]> Comment on Kroll Identity Theft Shield identity theft protection service review by Ruth http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/27/kroll-identity-theft-shield-identity-theft-protection-service-review/#comment-28677 Ruth Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:58:34 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/27/kroll-identity-theft-shield-identity-theft-protection-service-review/#comment-28677 You say that Identity Theft Shield does not have any process to PREVENT identity theft. That is because there is NO WAY to prevent it. Your name & mine & our information is in too many data bases over which we have no control. Identity theft does not stop with FINANCIAL theft! What about MEDICAL, DMV, SOCIAL SECURITY & CRIMINAL? Will Lifelock do anything about them? You say that Identity Theft Shield does not have any process to PREVENT identity theft. That is because there is NO WAY to prevent it. Your name & mine & our information is in too many data bases over which we have no control. Identity theft does not stop with FINANCIAL theft! What about MEDICAL, DMV, SOCIAL SECURITY & CRIMINAL? Will Lifelock do anything about them?

]]> Comment on Experian says 55% of child identity thefts perpetrated by family members by NextAdvisor Daily » Blog Archive » MySpace Identity Theft Protection Guide http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2007/12/20/experian-says-55-of-child-identity-thefts-perpetrated-by-family-members/#comment-28676 NextAdvisor Daily » Blog Archive » MySpace Identity Theft Protection Guide Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:37:06 +0000 http://nextadvisor.com/wordpress/?p=24#comment-28676 [...] According to Javelin Research, 17% of identity theft crimes are perpetrated by people that the victim knows, such as friends or family members. The credit bureau Experian found that 55% of identity thefts perpetrated against children were committed by someone the victim knew. [...] [...] According to Javelin Research, 17% of identity theft crimes are perpetrated by people that the victim knows, such as friends or family members. The credit bureau Experian found that 55% of identity thefts perpetrated against children were committed by someone the victim knew. [...]

]]> Comment on Debunking the case against LifeLock by Joe http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/05/29/debunking-the-case-against-lifelock/#comment-28675 Joe Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:33:04 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/05/29/debunking-the-case-against-lifelock/#comment-28675 Hi John, Thank you very much for the comment. The content on blog is a reflection of general user inquiries we receive and newsworthy develops related to the services we cover in our analysis. We do receive a disproportionate number of inquiries related to LifeLock and the company has had exponentially more general media coverage than any other service we have reviewed as of late. Hopefully this explains the amount of time we have dedicated to LifeLock versus other services over the last few months. Whiel our coverage maybe be weighted to LifeLock related stories we certainly take the integrity of our analysis very seriously and I am confident that we are providing a balanced view of topics related to LifeLock or any other service we have reviewed. It is misleading to characterize LifeLock as "fraud alerts and a promise". While much is made of LifeLock's fraud alerts and $1 million dollar guarantee, they are only two features that are provided to subscribers. LifeLock also offers an replacement of personal documents (such as driver license, credit cards, Social Security card, etc) if they are lost or stolen as part of WalletLock, monitoring of address changes in subscriber names, monitoring of attempts to buy and sell personal information online and various opt out services for junk mail and pre-approved offers of credit. We have analyzed and written extensively about the pros and cons of LifeLock's guarantee. From our perspective, their guarantee is as extensive as the majority of guarantees we have seen after reviewing approximately 15 of the top identity theft protection services. It is true that LifeLock does not cover restitution for stolen funds or lost wages, but no identity theft protection service we have seen covers these items. The reality is that in most cases the victim will not be held liable for stolen funds by the lender/creditor so restitution is not typically an issue (although there are cases where it is). LifeLock does cover legal fees as part of their guarantee. Monitoring is an ok detection tool, but it can take months for financial identity theft, court filings, etc to show up on a credit report. We prefer services like LifeLock and Trusted ID that set fraud alerts as well as those like Identity Truth and ID Watchdog that use advanced detection technology to catch potential identity theft BEFORE it shows up on a credit report. The best mix of services, in our opinion, is prevention mixed with recovery. Fraud alerts are not a perfect solution. There are cases where they do not work, but there are also cases where they are extremely effective. A mixture of fraud alerts and other preventative measures with good solid recovery assistance is the best in our mind. Thanks again for your comment and for adding to the conversation. It is much appreciated Joe Fahrner NextAdvisor.com Hi John,

Thank you very much for the comment.

The content on blog is a reflection of general user inquiries we receive and newsworthy develops related to the services we cover in our analysis. We do receive a disproportionate number of inquiries related to LifeLock and the company has had exponentially more general media coverage than any other service we have reviewed as of late. Hopefully this explains the amount of time we have dedicated to LifeLock versus other services over the last few months. Whiel our coverage maybe be weighted to LifeLock related stories we certainly take the integrity of our analysis very seriously and I am confident that we are providing a balanced view of topics related to LifeLock or any other service we have reviewed.

It is misleading to characterize LifeLock as “fraud alerts and a promise”. While much is made of LifeLock’s fraud alerts and $1 million dollar guarantee, they are only two features that are provided to subscribers. LifeLock also offers an replacement of personal documents (such as driver license, credit cards, Social Security card, etc) if they are lost or stolen as part of WalletLock, monitoring of address changes in subscriber names, monitoring of attempts to buy and sell personal information online and various opt out services for junk mail and pre-approved offers of credit.

We have analyzed and written extensively about the pros and cons of LifeLock’s guarantee. From our perspective, their guarantee is as extensive as the majority of guarantees we have seen after reviewing approximately 15 of the top identity theft protection services. It is true that LifeLock does not cover restitution for stolen funds or lost wages, but no identity theft protection service we have seen covers these items. The reality is that in most cases the victim will not be held liable for stolen funds by the lender/creditor so restitution is not typically an issue (although there are cases where it is).

LifeLock does cover legal fees as part of their guarantee.

Monitoring is an ok detection tool, but it can take months for financial identity theft, court filings, etc to show up on a credit report. We prefer services like LifeLock and Trusted ID that set fraud alerts as well as those like Identity Truth and ID Watchdog that use advanced detection technology to catch potential identity theft BEFORE it shows up on a credit report. The best mix of services, in our opinion, is prevention mixed with recovery.

Fraud alerts are not a perfect solution. There are cases where they do not work, but there are also cases where they are extremely effective. A mixture of fraud alerts and other preventative measures with good solid recovery assistance is the best in our mind.

Thanks again for your comment and for adding to the conversation. It is much appreciated

Joe Fahrner
NextAdvisor.com

]]> Comment on Debunking the case against LifeLock by John http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/05/29/debunking-the-case-against-lifelock/#comment-28674 John Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:38:09 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/05/29/debunking-the-case-against-lifelock/#comment-28674 This website is content heavy on identity theft and appears to cover the protection programs well. However, it seems very lopsided in favor of Lifelock which is simply a fraud alert and a promise. Fraud alerts are free and the guarantee is extremely flimsy (yes I did read it). It only covers defects in their own service (which means nothing!) Lost wages, no; Legal Fees, no. Many other products cover these things. Placing one's own fraud alert then picking a product with monitoring and a true restoration service seems to be a much better solution. This website is content heavy on identity theft and appears to cover the protection programs well. However, it seems very lopsided in favor of Lifelock which is simply a fraud alert and a promise. Fraud alerts are free and the guarantee is extremely flimsy (yes I did read it). It only covers defects in their own service (which means nothing!) Lost wages, no; Legal Fees, no. Many other products cover these things. Placing one’s own fraud alert then picking a product with monitoring and a true restoration service seems to be a much better solution.

]]> Comment on ID Watchdog identity theft protection service review by Identity-Theft » KY Attorney General Is Victim Of Identity Theft http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/27/id-watchdog-identity-theft-protection-service-review/#comment-28666 Identity-Theft » KY Attorney General Is Victim Of Identity Theft Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:32:59 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/27/id-watchdog-identity-theft-protection-service-review/#comment-28666 [...] ID Watchdog identity theft protection service reviewToday we are launching a new review of ID Watchdog, a detection based identity theft protection service that takes a unique approach to monitoring subscriber identities and has the best recovery guarantee we have seen to date. … [...] [...] ID Watchdog identity theft protection service reviewToday we are launching a new review of ID Watchdog, a detection based identity theft protection service that takes a unique approach to monitoring subscriber identities and has the best recovery guarantee we have seen to date. … [...]

]]> Comment on Reader Question: Is Vonage better than my cable company’s phone service? by NextAdvisor Daily » Blog Archive » Vonage vs. Magic Jack - one reader’s opinion http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/reader-question-is-vonage-better-than-my-cable-companys-phone-service/#comment-28372 NextAdvisor Daily » Blog Archive » Vonage vs. Magic Jack - one reader’s opinion Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:10:28 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/reader-question-is-vonage-better-than-my-cable-companys-phone-service/#comment-28372 [...] Thanks for visiting the NextAdvisor Daily blog. You may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.A recent commenter on our blog provided an excellent comparison of Vonage and Magic Jack, two popular VoIP services. We thought we would call out the comment in a separate post since we receive frequent inquiries from our readers about our opinion on Magic Jack. I have Magic Jack and I agree it does a very good job, and it’s $19.95 per year, but the quality is not as good as Vonage, and Vonage offers more for the $24.99 a month. I have used Vonage for over 2 years and it is just the BEST PHONE Service I have ever used and I’m 58 year old. [...] [...] Thanks for visiting the NextAdvisor Daily blog. You may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.A recent commenter on our blog provided an excellent comparison of Vonage and Magic Jack, two popular VoIP services. We thought we would call out the comment in a separate post since we receive frequent inquiries from our readers about our opinion on Magic Jack. I have Magic Jack and I agree it does a very good job, and it’s $19.95 per year, but the quality is not as good as Vonage, and Vonage offers more for the $24.99 a month. I have used Vonage for over 2 years and it is just the BEST PHONE Service I have ever used and I’m 58 year old. [...]

]]> Comment on Reader Question: Is Vonage better than my cable company’s phone service? by Joe http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/reader-question-is-vonage-better-than-my-cable-companys-phone-service/#comment-28244 Joe Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:49:35 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/reader-question-is-vonage-better-than-my-cable-companys-phone-service/#comment-28244 Hi Andy, Thank you very much for the insight into your experience with both Magic Jack and Vonage. We get frequent inquiries from readers about Magic Jack and it is great to get an educated opinion from someone with experience with both Magic Jack and a more traditional VoIP service like Vonage. Thanks again, Joe Fahrner NexAdvisor.com Hi Andy,

Thank you very much for the insight into your experience with both Magic Jack and Vonage. We get frequent inquiries from readers about Magic Jack and it is great to get an educated opinion from someone with experience with both Magic Jack and a more traditional VoIP service like Vonage.

Thanks again,

Joe Fahrner
NexAdvisor.com

]]> Comment on Reader Question: Is Vonage better than my cable company’s phone service? by Andy Cameron http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/reader-question-is-vonage-better-than-my-cable-companys-phone-service/#comment-28132 Andy Cameron Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:00:45 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/reader-question-is-vonage-better-than-my-cable-companys-phone-service/#comment-28132 Hi William, I have Magic Jack and I agree it does a very good job, and it's $19.95 per year, but the quality is not as good as Vonage, and Vonage offers more for the $24.99 a month. I have used Vonage for over 2 years and it is just the BEST PHONE Service I have ever used and I'm 58 year old. I use my Magic Jack when the kids come home with the grands they use the Vonage phone to call all the friends around the USA, so Magic Jack is my GREAT BACK-UP. The other problem is Magic Jack does not have my area code as of yet so people wishing to call my on MJ have to pay long distance a bummer to be sure. But William your right MJ is very good at what it does. Hi William,
I have Magic Jack and I agree it does a very good job, and it’s $19.95 per year, but the quality is not as good as Vonage, and Vonage offers more for the $24.99 a month. I have used Vonage for over 2 years and it is just the BEST PHONE Service I have ever used and I’m 58 year old. I use my Magic Jack when the kids come home with the grands they use the Vonage phone to call all the friends around the USA, so Magic Jack is my GREAT BACK-UP. The other problem is Magic Jack does not have my area code as of yet so people wishing to call my on MJ have to pay long distance a bummer to be sure. But William your right MJ is very good at what it does.

]]> Comment on Identity Theft Shield from Kroll and Pre-Paid Legal Review by NextAdvisor Daily » Blog Archive » Kroll Identity Theft Shield identity theft protection service review http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/18/identity-theft-shield-from-kroll-and-pre-paid-legal-review/#comment-27720 NextAdvisor Daily » Blog Archive » Kroll Identity Theft Shield identity theft protection service review Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:47:03 +0000 http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/06/18/identity-theft-shield-from-kroll-and-pre-paid-legal-review/#comment-27720 [...] Thanks for visiting the NextAdvisor Daily blog. You may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.We recently posted a brief comparison between Kroll and Prepaid Legal’s Identity Theft Shield, LifeLock and Identity Guard. Today we posted a formal review of the service on our main identity theft protection service comparison. [...] [...] Thanks for visiting the NextAdvisor Daily blog. You may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.We recently posted a brief comparison between Kroll and Prepaid Legal’s Identity Theft Shield, LifeLock and Identity Guard. Today we posted a formal review of the service on our main identity theft protection service comparison. [...]

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