Not all credit monitoring services are created equally. Each service offers different benefits even though they are quite similar. There are a few different things you need to look for when reviewing these different services. If you read the fine print and really dive into finding out exactly what a monitoring company will do for the consumer in return for the monthly payment, you will most likely learn how little these services do for their customers.
If you expand upon this information, and dig a little deeper, you will likely see that it is impossible for them to follow through with the majority of their promises. Many of the services claim they will protect you from someone being able to open a credit account in your name. Since many of these companies only pull one of the three reports being held in your name at the three major credit reporting bureaus, all bases are not being covered. If someone should open up an account in your name and it does not show on the other two credit reports, you will not know until it is too late. By the time you find out an account has been opened in your name, the damage will have already been done.
Most companies will not contact the creditor if there is any suspicious activity on your report. It really boils down to the fact of you doing most of the hard work anyways to monitor and to follow through on any issues that arise. Included in many of the credit monitoring services is identity theft insurance. It is also sold as a standalone product by a number of companies. The insurance promises to reimburse the consumer for damages if the consumer is a victim of identity theft. In most cases only reimbursement for costs associated with cleaning up the damage were refunded.
The costs involved to get things straightened out the best you can really only involves phone calls. How much do you think you will receive for phone calls? Not much. There is no policy out there that states they will reimburse the consumer for the amount of money that was stolen from their bank account or charge card.
They also cannot do anything about someone else getting their hands on your social security number and opening up accounts in your name. The bureaus created defragmented files for these accounts, however by the time they get around to alerting you 60 days may of passed. Again, the damage has long been done by this time. These services do not offer the kind of protection to warrant the monthly rates they charge.