Credit MonitoringAlthough there are other types of identity monitoring services such as medical and credit card monitoring services, most people focus on credit monitoring to deal with the identity theft problem. Credit report monitoring has many advantages for detecting identity theft and preventing further damage if it is performed diligently and as part of a broader identity protection strategy. Credit report monitoring doesn’t prevent identity theft but it is rather a strategy to help detect identity fraud after it has occurred. Credit report monitoring must be a component of an effective identity protection plan but credit monitoring alone is not sufficient to prevent identity theft or detect identity misuse in other areas such as medical identity theft or employment identity theft. For example, if someone used your medical insurance information to receive expensive health care with your name, you will not detect this fraud through credit report monitoring until the balance is submitted for collection. In this case, we can only hope that health care providers promptly send you a medical statement which will help you detect the fraud as soon as possible. One of the problems with credit report monitoring aside from the fact that it is an insufficient measure for a total protection against identity theft is that consumers either don’t review their reports for suspicious activities consistently or don’t review the information properly. Credit report monitoring is a time consuming and challenging task. Most people are not disciplined and trained enough to order and properly review their credit reports to detect unauthorized transactions. But even if they managed to review their reports, what is the best review interval? Should consumers review their reports every week, monthly or yearly? I hate to say this but unless credit report monitoring process is automated, credit reports must be reviewed at least daily for effective and timely fraud detection which is not practical at all. Notice I mention the word timeliness because shorter review intervals will detect a fraud faster which can otherwise go undetected for a longer period of time leading to additional damage, pain and suffering. If identity fraud detection is part of your overall identity protection plan and I think it should be, you should look for automated services. There is no shortage of companies selling credit report monitoring services these days but you should pick the ones that send you emails or text alerts informing you of major updates to your credit report and personal information therein. The automated process in the detection phase not only saves consumers time for reviewing their credit reports but it also helps detect potentially unauthorized transaction immediately and effectively. Of course, the automation doesn’t take away the consumer responsibility for validating the changes to ensure the transactions were authorized. In addition, most automated identity monitoring services also monitor your health insurance to detect medical fraud, or credit cards to detect credit card fraud which will not be immediately reflected in your credit reports until the charges are submitted for collection. For additional information about credit monitoring, please visit the credit report page.
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