Identity theft services

There are quite a few services out there popping up in the identity theft space. The credit monitoring services have been around for a while. Now there’s a number of services that claim to help prevent or restore your identity by doing background checks or giving you report based on pulling data from a variety of sources. These services tend to cost a lot and you have to pay up front. And the data they use for their reports nearly always comes from free sources. You’re paying them to pull it in and present it to you on a web site. I’ve seen these new services can cost $99 or more. And you have to pay up-front for so your risk is high.

I tested one of these services on my own dime. It cost me $44.95 and what I got was not worth it in my opinion. The report had almost nothing in it and it was very expensive. I’m not going to do a comprehensive review of these ID theft resolution or background check services here or even call them out by name, just be careful folks. Review their web site carefully and take a deep breath and think before you sign up. If the company seems to be hiding behind their web site (they make it a challenge to contact them) it may be for a reason—they don’t want to deal with you or your complaints.

There are inexpensive and free ways to protect yourself and we’re going tell you about how you can do that here in the future.

All the best for a safe and protected 2006!