LifeLock, And Other Options

Published June 19th, 2008

by Jed Jenson

In a perfect world we would not have to worry about the threat of someone stealing our identity and ruining our credit. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world. Fortunately, there are services available, such as LifeLock’s Identity Theft Protection Services, which work to protect your identity. Although there are pro’s and con’s to using such services, LifeLock’s pros greatly outweigh their cons.

To begin with, one pro of LifeLock is that they offer child identity theft protection services. At this time, LifeLock is the only company to offer credit checks and monitoring services for a member’s child who is under the age of 15. With the number of child identity thefts growing each year, LifeLock is leading the market in providing this needed service.

Another pro of LifeLock is that LifeLock works to prevent identity theft. While most companies provide identity theft monitoring services, LifeLock’s services are proactive in preventing identity theft from occurring in the first place. LifeLock’s identity prevention services include detecting when a member’s address has been illegally changed in national databases through their TrueAddress services; placing fraud alerts on your credit files; and monitoring the internet for black market activity regarding the illegal use of credit card numbers and social security numbers through their eRecon services.

A further pro of using LifeLock services is that LifeLock reduces the amount of access thieves have to your personal information by stopping pre-approved credit card offers that come in the mail and curtailing the number of telemarketing calls received. Stealing identifying information from your mail box or trash is a popular way for identity thieves to steal your personal information, not to mention using Pretexting scams to gather your credit card information by phone. LifeLock not only prevents identity theft by reducing the amount of access thieves have to your personal information; they also reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. Who wouldn’t count that as a pro!

The only con that could possibly be counted against LifeLock is that they do not perform daily scans of a member’s credit report as do some identity theft companies. However, LifeLock does pull credit reports annually and mail them to their members for review. In addition, LifeLock’s fraud alerts can immediately discover any unauthorized request for credit or loans and prevent fraud from ever making it to their credit report.

Lastly, one of the best pros to using LifeLock is their $1,000,000 total service guarantee. Because thieves will inevitably find “a way around the system,” there may be a day when a thief may find a way around LifeLock’s system. If this happens to a LifeLock member, LifeLock will provide attorneys, investigators, accountants, case managers, etc. to restore the member’s good name and credit. In addition, if the member loses money as a result of the theft, LifeLock will reimburse the amount lost.

When it comes to weighing the pros and cons of using an identity theft protection company, the scales are tipped towards LifeLock. LifeLock offers some of the most comprehensive identity theft protection and prevention services available. When deciding which identity theft protection company is right for you and your family, it is clear that LifeLock’s identity theft protection services outweigh the competition.

About the Author:

Jed Jenson publishes identity theft reviews, such as LifeLock reviews. To see another lifelock review, keep reading.