Are you thinking about purchasing a credit monitoring service to protect your finances? Perhaps you received a notice that a data breach may have exposed your information, you’ve discovered fraudulent activity with your identity or financial accounts, or you’re merely worried about the potential for identity theft. Whatever the reason, it pays to understand what these services do and what other options are available.
What Credit Monitoring Services Offer
Credit monitoring services provide various protective services to customers, such as:
- Email and text message alerts for inquiries on a customer’s credit score or credit report, financial accounts opened in the customer’s name, account closures, and changes to the customer’s credit score
- Tracking of one’s credit score and access to one’s credit report
- Support services to resolve potential identity theft and fraud, including assistance working with financial institutions to report fraudulent activity
Many services are available in both basic and premium versions. Basic versions of credit monitoring services typically focus on providing tools for customers to monitor their credit score and report. Premium services claim to offer identity theft prevention services that purportedly help prevent fraudsters from opening financial accounts or undertaking transactions in a customer’s name.
Free Alternatives and Your Legal Rights
There are also free alternatives to paid credit monitoring services. For example, federal law entitles residents in the U.S. to one free credit report per year from each of the three national consumer reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian). Most banks and credit card companies also provide customers access to credit scores issued by one or more of the three consumer reporting agencies and can alert customers to increases or decreases in their credit scores.
Florida residents also have legal protections for their credit history under state and federal law. At the federal level, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers legal rights to challenge inaccuracies in their credit reports. At the state level, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act also provides consumer protection in the credit reporting industry.
Key Considerations Before Buying Credit Monitoring Services
Here are some key factors to consider when deciding whether to purchase a credit monitoring service:
- Cost vs. value: Evaluate the benefits offered by a credit monitoring service against its cost to determine whether it provides fair value.
- Terms of service: Review the terms of service for a credit monitoring service to understand your rights and obligations once you purchase the service. In particular, determine whether you must stay with the service for a contract term, whether you can terminate the service, and whether you must pay cancellation fees for terminating early.
- Data privacy: Carefully read a credit monitoring service’s terms of service and privacy policy to understand how it will keep your personal and financial information secure.
- Reputation: You can review a credit monitoring service company’s reputation by reading customer reviews and checking their ratings from the Better Business Bureau and similar rating services.
- Misleading marketing: Finally, exercise caution with companies that make marketing promises that sound “too good to be true” or that use pressure sales tactics, such as bombarding you with sales calls, emails, or text messages.
What to Do If You Believe You’ve Become the Victim of Identity Theft
If you suspect that someone has compromised your identity or financial accounts, you can take the following steps to protect yourself:
- Place a fraud alert or credit freeze with the national consumer reporting agencies and with your financial institutions
- File a report with the relevant authorities
- Monitor your financial accounts and credit reports regularly, and dispute any unauthorized activity with financial institutions and the consumer reporting agencies
Contact a Consumer Protection Attorney Today
Have you been the target of credit identity theft? If so, contact Lehrman Law today for an initial consultation with a consumer protection attorney to discuss your options for demanding justice.