New Developments In Identity Theft Protection
You might have taken every precaution in the book to prevent identity theft from happening to you, there are a few areas where things are totally out of control. The databases that hold your information on e-commerce sites, credit card sites, or any site where you have a profile with personally identifiable information. Recent headline-grabbing data breaches left the information of millions of people exposed, although it does not necessarily mean that you are or will become a victim of identity theft.
The nation’s leading financial companies are beefing up their service offerings to grab new business in this increasingly risky environment where people are scared someone will steal their identity.
The company announced the addition of lost wallet assistance to its consumer credit monitoring and identity protection product Equifax Complete Premier Plan(TM). The new feature provides consumers with around-the-clock access to a team of identity theft specialists who can assist them with completing the necessary steps to restore the contents of their lost or stolen wallet, including canceling and reissuing driver’s licenses, passports, Social Security cards and credit cards.
American Express introduced a similar service back in April, ID Protect Premium. It offers consumers resolution assistance backed by American Express’s superior customer support and up to $1,000,000 of identity theft insurance. Dedicated fraud specialists are available 24/7 and help consumers through the resolution process. In addition to providing information, checklists, and forms, these specialists support consumers step by step through the process of calling financial institutions to cancel and order new cards, notifying credit bureaus, disputing items on credit reports, and filing a police report. It also includes lost wallet protection covering consumers’ entire wallet including: debit, store, charge and credit cards.
There may be some truth to an article I read recently that said ID theft is never gonna stop because it’s too profitable for too many people!