IdentityGuard.com – Early warning for identity theft

February 8, 2010 / in Information Technology / by Jason Terry

We all know that it is a good idea to keep track of our credit rating.  Unfortunately, it often becomes one of those things you will get to later instead of staying on top of it.  I fixed that problem for myself about a year ago when I signed up for IdentityGuard.com.  I wish I could say that it was because I was being proactive, but it was in response to one of my credit card numbers getting out somehow and being used at online merchants.  (My credit card company called to let me know about the unusual activity on my account, so thankfully the problem was caught before affecting me.)

Identity Guard is a service that monitors credit activity with Equifax, Experian and Transunion.  I receive an email alert any time there is new activity on any 3 of these services.  One nice thing about this is that you can always see what your credit rating is as reported by these 3 services. 

Interesting fact, the national average credit score is 672.  If you don’t know what your credit scores are, you owe it to yourself to find out and see if you have any open lines of credit, etc.  (How many hands raise when I ask if you have an old credit card that you don’t use anymore but aren’t sure if you ever cancelled it?  Scary…)  When I first signed up with their service, I found that there were 2 credit cards from HIGH SCHOOL that I had never closed. I closed all of those old accounts and felt good knowing exactly what kinds of credit lines I had and that they were in good standing.

Identity Guard will monitor your social security number, bank accounts, credit cards, credit reporting activity and more to give you an early warning system for fraudulent activity related to your credit and your accounts.  I get an email update about once each month based on new activity relating to my credit and the information is always correct, and kind of scary.  They know EVERYTHING.  :) 

How much does this cost?  Check out the 3 programs they offer that range in price from $9.99/month to $17.99/month.  I am using the Total Protection plan and have been very happy with the service.  There are tons of reports and the site is easy to use to get to the information you need.  If the whole credit monitoring thing has been in the back of your mind, take the time to give IdentityGuard a look.  I was glad that I did.