Identity theft protection? (credit card, activity, charge)

[marylee54]

I've heard about a lot of identity theft protection services, that, for a fee, of course, monitors your credit for suspicious activity, etc.

But I wonder when I look at the applications, they want all your vitals, including SSN, driver's license, all sorts of identifying info, and your credit card numbers, just wait a minute? Who are these poeple, anyways? Possibly another scam!

what a perfect setup--you spill your info to them, they "sell" it to someone else, then charge you to clean up your identity theft?

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....................well, our bank has such a service, I would feel better if I went in person to sign up, at least I know who I'm giving the information to, not just another pretty website!

[atxcio]

All those identity theft products, including the ones from your own bank, are a ripoff. Other than being appropriately diligent about never sharing any personal information, there is one thing you can do (for free in Texas) that is better than any of those identity theft products -- put a freeze on your info with all 3 credit bureaus. That's Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Go directly to them and request a credit freeze. You can do two of them on the web, the third you can do by phone. This won't harm your credit; all it will do is not allow anyone to run a credit check on you without you knowing about it. Like it should be.

Learn more about it here: Clark Howard: Credit Freeze Guide on clarkhoward.com (http://clarkhoward.com/topics/credit_freeze_states.html - broken link)