Identity theft can cost you thousands of dollars

The media has been chock-full of stories in recent months about security breaches at banks, credit unions and credit card banks. A recent problem at CardSystems Solutions, a credit card transaction handler, permitted criminals to obtain approximately forty million credit card numbers before the crime was noticed. Due to several well publicized security breaches, individuals are understandably worried about being victims of identity theft. Should your personal information be stolen, a thief could run up tens of thousands of dollars worth of bills for you, and it might take years to sort it all out.

A new tool from the three major credit bureaus - the credit report monitor, can help consumers who are alarmed about identity theft. Services vary in price and details, so interested consumers should look around to find a plan that suits them. Each of the three main credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union, offers a monitoring product that, for an annual fee, will alert you by phone to any changes at all in your credit report. The rates vary from company to company, but a typical fee is about $50 per year. Many other banks, credit unions and financial institutions also offer identity theft prevention programs.

Signing up for an identity theft monitoring product is easy. Once you sign up for the plan, you will be notified each time significant changes appear on your credit record. Alterations to your credit report which may look suspcicious might include the creation of new credit accounts, a check of your credit score, a change of address, late payments, or notifications of liens or legal judgments against you. Should you receive such a notification that your credit report may have been altered, you can then contact any agency that would be appropriate. If you see that an account had been opened in your name at a department store, you could contact them as well as the credit agency to apprise them of the fraudulent activity.

Should you not wish to sign up for a subscription prevention plan, there is a free option. The wise consumer might stagger the free reports and obtain one every four months throughout the year. Credit reports for free must be requested through the Government-mandated annual credit report Web site, and they can be obtained online just by answering a couple of easy questions. Many Americans can now obtain one free credit report each 12 months from each of the three credit bureaus. By looking over the report every few months, a person could note any significant changes on the credit report and contact the authorities to report any weird activity. Americans can monitor their credit report activity themselves by taking advantage of the credit report authorized by Congress last year.

Most any person who is worried about losing personal information now has an option to carefully monitor monetary activity conducted in her name. The no charge solution and the paid solution are both effective, although the paid solution may produce faster results. Be careful when looking for free credit reports on the Internet. Some sites claim to offer free credit reports, but only offer the credit reports at no charge if the visitor subscribes to a monitoring product. Americans should be careful when searching for a copy of their credit report. Monitoring solutions are fine, provided that you actually want to subscribe to one. If you are tricked into signing up for one, that is less great.