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TrustedID Review: Identity Theft Protection |
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| Best value, especially for families; exclusive 15% discount & free 30-day trial; to sign up over the phone, call 800-234-6611 | |
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[Editor's Note: TrustedID has created a toll free number that NextAdvisor.com readers can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to speak to a TrustedID representative, ask questions, or sign up for their service. If you are interested in signing up, we recommend that you call them at 800-234-6611, and be sure to mention NextAdvisor.com to ensure that you receive our exclusive 15% discount.]
TrustedID is an outstanding identity theft protection service. Its features are second to none, and with NextAdvisor's exclusive 15% discount and free 30-day trial, it is the best overall value in identity theft protection. When you click through to TrustedID from NextAdvisor.com, you will receive the 15% discount automatically, with no promotional code required. This is the best price for TrustedID and isn't available anywhere else. TrustedID's Internet black market monitoring service monitors your personal information such as Social Security number, credit cards and bank accounts for any suspicious activity. It begins working as soon as you sign up by taking the Social Security number you used in the sign-up process and monitoring its use immediately. Adding all your credit card and bank account numbers is quick and easy and you should do this right away. This service monitors the Internet's black market for the use of any of these account numbers and immediately alerts you if it finds any of your numbers are being bought or sold. Trusted ID also monitors the Internet and public records for any changes to or misuse of your name, address, or Social Security number. TrustedID is the only service we've found that also gives you medical record protection. The service will help you request your medical benefit history from all your providers so you can make sure no one else has been receiving benefits in your name. They then monitor your account for any suspicious usage on an ongoing basis. TrustedID recently introduced a new feature, the Identity Threat Score, which provides a gauge of your individual risk level based on an analysis of the various records and databases that TrustedID monitors. Your score will help TrustedID's protection specialists determine the necessary steps to proactively protect your identity. TrustedID's $1,000,000 identity theft warranty starts the moment you sign up so you can be confident you'll have the peace of mind that comes with their warranty and restoration services should they ever be needed (more on that below). TrustedID also helps you send letters to opt out of junk mail in general and credit card and other lending offers in particular. Not only do these clog your mailbox and kill trees, but they are also a prime target for identity thieves to steal, gain your personal information and open a credit card account in your name. Your free credit reports are mailed to your house, and the address is verified through the credit bureaus before doing so. As part of your account, you are offered a service called CreditLock, which makes your credit report at all 3 bureaus unavailable to everyone without permission. While this is a good option for those who rarely use their credit, or those who are stationed overseas, it does cost $44.95 to lock your credit reports with all three bureaus and $39.95 to unlock them - every time! We typically only recommend using this feature if you know you have been the victim of an identity theft. In that situation, it is extremely valuable. Finally, TrustedID also includes free anti-spyware software with your membership. This is definitely a nice added feature. The software is branded with TrustedID's brand but is developed and maintained by Sana Security, a highly reputable and well-reviewed identity theft prevention software company. TrustedID has a pricing structure that makes it a particularly good value for large families. The family plan is about twice as much as the individual plan, but you can add everyone in your household, so it makes sense for households of more than two people. For those that want to take the additional step of setting fraud alerts on their credit files, Trusted ID has developed a simple interface that walks you through the process of setting your own fraud alerts online with Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus. Once your fraud alerts are set, Equifax will notify the other two credit bureaus, Experian and TransUnion, on your behalf and fraud alerts will be set on your credit files at those two bureaus as well. After you set your fraud alerts the first time they will need to be renewed every 90 days. Trusted ID sends an email notification that reminds you to reset your fraud alerts before they lapse. The downside to setting fraud alerts on your credit file is that it might delay a credit application process because your identity must be confirmed before an account is open (usually you will be called and must speak to a representative of the credit grantor), but for those that are very concerned about identity theft this is a small price to pay it will not hurt your credit or prevent you from getting credit. TrustedID's ID theft service warranty covers you for up to $1,000,000 in costs to recover from identity theft. While this is a great benefit, direct monetary losses from identity theft are almost always much less, since you are not legally responsible for paying any fraudulent debt accumulated by a thief. The real cost of identity theft is the loss of ability to get credit for an extended period of time, the time and effort it takes to restore your good name, and many other adverse consequences that can even include mistaken incarceration. Thus, we think the most valuable part of the warranty is the identity theft restoration service that TrustedID gives you as part of the warranty. In the extremely unlikely event that your identity is stolen while you're a TrustedID member, they will pay for and perform all the tasks necessary to restore your identity, which can be extremely time-consuming, difficult and costly. We've found TrustedID customer service representatives to be very helpful and easy to reach at any time of the day or week. TrustedID has done a nice job of improving their online account dashboard so you can now see all the different ways your being protected and whether your account is missing any information. Overall, TrustedID is a great identity theft protection solution and an comprehensive yet cost-effective option for those serious about preventing identity theft. |
Search our blog archives and frequently asked questions for more information about Identity Theft Protection Services
| Price: | Free 30-day trial; $8.50/mo or $84.15/yr for individuals; $16.99/mo or $161.49/yr for families |
| Fraud Monitoring: | Credit cards, public records, Social Security number, bank accounts, medical records |
| ID Theft Insurance/ Guarantee: | $1,000,000 warranty |
| Reports Delivered: | One 3-bureau credit report each year |
| Computer Security: | Anti-spyware protection |
NextAdvisor Identity Theft Protection Blog Headlines
How to get a new Social Security Card
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: How do I get another social security card?
A: If you have lost your social security card and need another one, you can get a free replacement. The social security office limits the number of replacement cards they will issue [...]
419 scams double, over $9 billion in profits
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
A recent study by Dutch investigation firm Ultrascan shows we are half as smart (or twice as dumb) as we were in 2008, as advanced fee scams, a.k.a. 419 scams, doubled in losses to over $9 billion. 419 Advance Fee Fraud Statistics 2009 (PDF)
It is believed that while [...]
Criminal hackers buying and selling hacked accounts
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger.
Malicious software, designed to gather usernames and passwords, has been a boon to the criminal hacking community. Spyware, as it?s commonly known, records almost everything a user does on their PC. The most damaging spyware records all electronic communications via a web browser. That?s where the most damage [...]
Baby boomers guilty of oversharing on Facebook
A new study from Experian concludes that adults over the age of 45 share too much information online. The credit score reporting company completed a study of 1,052 men and women, analyzing their behavior on social networks. The study found that "14 percent of adults – and 20 percent of those age 60 and over [...]
What protection is available once your identity has been stolen?
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: I would like to get information on what protection is available for a person who identity is already stolen and is being attempted to be used. I was wondering about instant alerts any time my name or credit is trying to [...]
The New York Times ponders the plight of the Internet user
In this day and age, even the Fashion & Style section of The New York Times is worried about Internet security issues. This weekend, the Times recounted the experiences of Allan Goldstein, a 60 year old college professor who uses the Internet, but does so a bit nervously. He worries that NYU's online system will [...]
Connecticut sues Health Net for data breach
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has filed a lawsuit against Health Net for HIPPA violations in the wake of a data breach. Last May, Health Net discovered that a portable disk drive containing confidential health information, Social Security numbers, and bank account numbers of nearly half a million past and present enrollees had disappeared. The [...]
Chinese hackers target Google and Google users
Yesterday, Google released information about a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on [Google's] corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google." The attack also targeted at least twenty other large companies, and the hackers seem to have been specifically interested in accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human [...]
Data Breach Alert: Facebook application developer RockYou failed to protect data
RockYou is a company that develops applications for Facebook, MySpace, and a number of other popular social networking websites. It's the second biggest application developer for Facebook after Zynga, which recently made headlines for its "scammy" offers. Last month, RockYou fell victim to an SQL injection attack, in which a hacker or hackers successfully accessed [...]
International hacker pleads guilty
In August, Albert Gonzalez was indicted for his role as ringleader of a massive hacking operation targeting Heartland Payment Systems, 7-11, and supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers. The hack resulted in the theft of data for more than 130 million credit and debit cards. Authorities have called it the largest identity fraud scam in U.S. history.
Gonzalez [...]
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