How necessary are services like Privacy Guard?
burn_to_blue asked:
Should people subscribe to credit monitoring and fraud protecion services? Or are such companies just capitalizing on paranoia?
Darryl
Should people subscribe to credit monitoring and fraud protecion services? Or are such companies just capitalizing on paranoia?
Darryl
Dorothy
Funny that you ask that. I was thinking the same thing just the other day. In my opinion, I think they are just cashing in on paranoia, like you said. I think that if you are responsible with your personal info, and you keep an eye on things yourself, you will be fine. I have had credit for the past 7 years, and have never had an incident.
Michael
Having been w/ PrivacyGuard a long time, I kind of wonder if the money spent has been worth it.
Up to this point, PG provides three useful services: allow me to retrieve my credit reports from all three agencies; receive quarterly activity reports from credit agencies; and alerts whenever a credit line has been opened in my name, to ensure I’m the one doing the opening.
Identity theft is not just paranoia. You don’t know what kind of havoc this causes until you or someone you know has had their identity hijacked. So far I’ve been fortunate that no one has been able to open lines of credit in my name, but I’ve had people steal and use account info to buy expensive stuff online.
It’s what you make of it. Blow it off at your own peril.