Are these identity protection services worth giving your info to? (pay, credit report)

[RMD3819]

I have free identity protection through Mastercard. They want SS number and other financial details in order to monitor those accounts.

I can see where they would need these details but on the other hand it seems my data is all in one spot if they are hacked.

What do you all think about these ervices? Should I give them my details? Right now they have my email and phone number.

[don6170]

Originally Posted by RMD3819

What do you all think about these ervices?

I skip them and just keep my credit frozen. If you are not familiar with it, Clark Howard has a nice guide.
https://clark.com/credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/

[mathjak107]

the problem with just freezing credit is it only applies to consumer credit ... commercial loans that are fraudulent go through other agencies like dunn and bradstreet ...your info can still bring you grief.

[COcheesehead]

Use something like Credit Karma. Its simple, but it gives you insight into what is going on with your credit in relative real time.

[JustMike77]

I'm probably more paranoid than normal, but I figure that any of these services can be hacked, even LifeLock. I prefer not to hand anyone my personal financial information.

[don6170]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

the problem with just freezing credit is it only applies to consumer credit ... commercial loans that are fraudulent go through other agencies like dunn and bradstreet ...your info can still bring you grief.

There are also credit reporting agencies beyond the big three. If you don't freeze your credit with all of those, it is possible for something bad to happen. However, the odds of that, or a consumer being hit with a fraudulent commercial loan are quite small. Nothing is perfect, but the best thing an individual consumer can do to protect themselves is to freeze their credit with the big three.

[Caltovegas]

I offer IDSHIELD with LegalShield. If you go to a doctor, pay a mortgage, pay rent, etc, your information is already out in cyberspace. Something else to consider is Identity theft can also take other forms.

Consider healthcare, drivers licences, someone arrested and say they are you, or even using a child's information. Will a person's ID get compromised? Who knows but the meat of a services is restoration. What happens if it does?

Frozen credit sounds great but what if going to doctor and finding our someone is using your healthcare or police show up at your door with a warrant for some traffic infraction or worse? Who you gonna call.

As for giving up personal information it isn't an issue if the company is credible and no company can prevent ID theft 100%… Even the Government gets hacked. As I said restoration is the key.