Child ID Theft Protection: A Practical Gift

As a parent, grandparent, or guardian of a child, you want to do everything possible to help the child in your life have a bright future. This means preparing your child for everything that life could throw at him or her. In today’s world, this includes preparing your child for financial setbacks and doing everything possible to help your child have a bright financial future and financial success. You don’t want anything to derail this, especially before your child has a chance to begin making money decisions. As such, you need to take steps to fight against child ID theft.

Fighting Child ID Theft

Child ID theft has become a major source of concern. Many identity thieves are turning to children because they make easy victims. Kids may not be very careful with their personal information because they don’t understand the risk of identity theft. Even cautious parents who are diligent about keeping their own personal information private may not be aware that child ID theft is also an issue and, thus, may not be as careful with their children’s private data as they should. The worst issue, however, is that kids don’t use credit regularly, don’t apply for mortgages and car loans, and may not even be aware that they have credit reports. As such, an identity thief may have a long time in which he goes undetected and is free to steal and use a child’s personal information before he is discovered and stopped.

With child ID theft protection, however, you and your child are given important tools that will assist you in fighting any identity theft before it becomes a major problem to solve. With IDENTITY GUARD® identity theft protection, it is possible to regularly monitor a child’s credit information and to receive alerts triggered by certain suspicious or out-of-the-ordinary events. You can also take advantage of programs that are specifically targeted towards helping to prevent child ID theft, such as kID Sure^SM, if you would prefer a program specifically targeted towards helping to fight child ID theft.

Why Opt for Child Identity Theft Protection

A child’s credit score is going to have a major impact on that child’s life. Many students need loans in order to pay for college, so they will need to have their credit in good shape in order to get these important student loans. You don’t want to later discover – when that freshman year arrives – that there is a delay or that the loans aren’t available as a result of an identity theft situation. Further, you don’t want your child to start his or her life dealing with black marks on a credit record because of identity theft.

Correcting mistakes and errors on a credit report that exist because of identity theft takes time, and the longer the identity theft goes on undiscovered, the stickier and more complicated the situation becomes. Don’t let your child be saddled with a financial mess as one of his first experiences in the financial world. Instead, take advantage of child id theft protection through http://www.identityguard.com/ or kID Sure^SM in order to give your child a practical and lasting gift.

Paying off Debt? Credit Monitoring is Key

Credit monitoring is an important service for anyone who cares about his or her finances and who wants to have a handle on whether he is creditworthy enough to get favorable loan rates. However, if you have recently paid off debt or are in the process of paying off debt, credit monitoring becomes especially important.

How Does Credit Monitoring Help in Debt Payoffs

If you are paying off credit card, personal loan, or other consumer debt, using a credit monitoring service is a smart choice. Credit monitoring services through http://www.identityguard.com/ silver, gold, or platinum will all provide you with relevant and timely information about your credit situation, while targeted programs through CreditProtectX3® or CreditProtect® will all help you to keep up to date about what is going on with your credit information.

Using one of these services can be very helpful when paying off debt for many reasons including the following:

• You can track the impact that your debt payoff is having on your credit score. 30 percent of your credit score is determined based on the amount of available credit you are actually using. This is called your “credit utilization” rate. The less of your credit you use, the higher your credit score will go since using less shows that you have a good handle on your debt and that you aren’t in debt trouble. Essentially, this means that as you pay off debt and you lower your utilization, you can see your score going up. That’s an exciting feeling.
• You can see on a regular basis that your payments are being applied and your debt totals are going down. A credit report gives you all of your credit information in one convenient place. This means you can get an overall idea of your debt picture. As you reduce the debt owed, you’ll see on your credit report that your remaining balances grow smaller and smaller. This will help to keep you motivated and keep you on track as you work to repay the debts that you owe.
• You can make sure your hard work isn’t undermined. When you are paying off debt it can sometimes be a struggle, but it is worth it to try to get and stay debt-free or to get rid of toxic debt at high interest rates. However, you don’t want to end up having all your hard work impacted by someone stealing your identity and getting credit in your name that doesn’t get paid. Although you can remove accounts from your credit report that were put there as a result of identity theft, this can take a long time and you need to actually take action to have the accounts removed (which means you need to know the accounts are there). Credit monitoring through IDENTITY GUARD®, CreditProtectX3®, or CreditProtect® helps you to know when something is amiss sooner than you otherwise would, so you can take the right action.

For all of these reasons, it just makes sense to use a credit monitoring service during your journey to repay your debts.

Understanding Your Credit Report

Checking your credit report regularly is a very wise choice. In fact, many people choose to sign up for a service such as http://www.identityguard.com/, CreditProtectX3®, or CreditProtect® so they will have the tools that allow them to keep up to date about the information on their credit and debt. By keeping tabs on what is going on, you not only have the best chance of fighting identity theft, but you also have the ability to see how your behaviors and actions with debt and spending affect your creditworthiness. These aren’t the only benefits of checking your credit report regularly either; there are many, all of which relate to ensuring good financial fitness.

However, in order to enjoy and make the most of all of the benefits of monitoring your credit report, you will need to understand your credit report. Here are a few times to help.

Understanding the Information on Your Credit Report

The information on your credit report is compiled by various agencies that assemble details on your debt and then use that information to give you a score on how creditworthy you are. Banks and lenders use the score and the information on your credit report in order to determine if you are a good lending risk or a bad one. If there is too much negative information or your score is too low, they won’t lend to you at all. If you have some negatives, you may have a low score but will still be creditworthy enough for banks to lend to. In this case, you’ll just pay a higher interest rate than someone with a good credit score.

The information on your credit report, therefore, consists of all of the details needed to determine what credit score to assign to you. The credit report also consists of details that banks and lenders might be interested in when assessing whether lending to you is a risk. This information includes the following:

• The names of all open accounts, the balances due, the length of time you have had the card, the minimum monthly payments, and your payment history (i.e. whether you’ve ever been 30, 60, or 90 days late or whether a creditor has ever had to discharged or “charge off” debt since you didn’t pay it back).
• Information about public records or judgments against you.
• Information regarding the number of new “inquiries” on your credit report. An inquiry is a request by a creditor to see your report because you’ve applied for new credit. “Soft” inquiries (those you initiate yourself when you want to check your credit and those that are done by companies for marketing or identity verification purposes) do not show up on your report, only queries that creditors conduct when you request new credit are listed. As such, this category shows lenders how much new debt you are taking on.

It is important to regularly monitor all of this information on your credit report by using a service such as IDENTITY GUARD®, CreditProtectX3®, or CreditProtect®. With these services, you get regular access to the details on your credit report so you can check for mistakes in your information, see if you have a good mix of debt, track your balances and inquiries, and otherwise make smart choices to protect a vital asset: your credit score.

Identity Protection Steps to Take

Identity protection is not something that should be a concern only for small portions of the population who are careless with their credit information. Everyone should be concerned with securing their personal information so they do not fall victim to identity theft. In an information-centric economy with new digital devices being developed every day, it has become even more important than ever for every single person to make smart choices and take responsibility for protecting themselves.

Identity Protection Steps

In order to ensure that you’ve done everything possible to secure your identity, be sure you have taken these identity protection steps:

1. Shred mail and documents with personal identifying information. Whether you have old tax returns, statements from your insurance or mortgage company, credit card solicitations, or anything else with your personal details on it, shredding it is the only smart choice. Anyone can get ahold of mail or papers that are thrown away and can use that information to steal your identity.
2. Be cautious about sharing your personal details, especially your Social Security Number. There are a whole host of tactics used by identity thieves to try to get ahold of information they should not have. Always be wary, and don’t fall victim to the traps set by skilled criminals. If someone calls claiming to be from your bank and trying to “verify” your information, tell them you’ll hang up and call them back (and then use the number you know for your bank). Don’t click on links in e-mails that lead you to sites where your personal info is entered (again, go directly to the site you know), and be cautious that not everything is always as it seems.
3. Watch your data on public networks and unsecured connections. If you have an open WiFi connection in your home or if you are on a public computer or Internet in a public place like a coffee shop, be very careful about entering any personal account details or information. Unsecured networks are, by definition, not secure. Someone with a little know-how could easily access your data.
4. Use passwords that are difficult to guess. If you use your name, your kids’ names, or your birthday as your password or your PIN, it can be easy for people to breach the “security” that a password is supposed to provide. After all, it isn’t very hard to find out someone’s birthday, especially in the age of Facebook and social networking.
5. Take advantage of identity protection services. With a service such as http://www.identityguard.com, you can keep regular tabs on what is going on with your credit report and your personal information. You can even receive updates if certain triggering suspicious events occur. Services like http://www.identityguard.com/ arm you with tools that may help you to fight identity theft more effectively.

If you follow these steps, you can significantly increase the chances that your personal information will remain as it should –personal. Don’t wait for identity theft to happen; take the proper steps for identity protection today by securing your information and getting in touch with IDENTITY GUARD® to start your service.

Identity Theft Protection: Is it Right For You?

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Many people have heard of identity theft protection but aren’t necessarily certain if it is something that they need or not. The reality, however, is that most everyone – including children and those without credit cards of their own – can benefit from identity theft protection.

Why Identity Theft Protection is Right for You

Identity theft protection from http://www.identityguard.com gives you important tools that you can use to help you stop ID thieves from taking and illegally using your personal information. With regular access to your credit report and notifications and alerts of certain suspicious activity, you can spot identity theft very quickly – typically much more quickly than those who have no protections in place at all. The sooner you learn your information has been compromised, the less damage an identity thief has time to do.

So, why is this something that you have to worry about and why is it important that everyone consider getting identity theft protection from IDENTITY GUARD®? Here are just a few reasons why identity theft protection may be right for you:

• Identity theft is a fast-growing crime that can have serious repercussions. People who have their identities stolen can experience an inability to get credit when it comes time to make important purchases such as buying a new home or a new car. While the errors on a credit report from identity theft can be corrected, it is very time consuming and can take countless hours to fix a credit report that has been damaged by identity theft.
• Identity theft is not an Internet-only crime. While many people believe that credit card and personal information is only stolen on the Internet, this is simply not true. Even if you have never used a computer in your life, your information is still accessible in many different ways to would-be identity thieves, and you are still susceptible to having your identity stolen. Someone could obtain your personal and private information from disregarded mail, hacking into or compromising the files of your credit card company, installing special devices on ATM machines, or simply looking over a waiter’s shoulder as he runs your credit card in a restaurant. A determined identity thief can always find a way.
• Identity theft can happen to anyone. Even children and the elderly who do not have credit cards available could potentially be victims of identity theft. In these cases, without identity theft protection in place, the damage could be even more severe since the victim may not find out that his or her information is being used for a long time.

These are just a few reasons why everyone should consider some type of identity theft protection. If you are serious about being proactive and protecting your information from those who want to make illegal use of it, take the first step today in arming yourself with the support and information that you need. Sign up for IDENTITY GUARD® today to make the smart choice on protecting your good name.

Identity Theft Prevention is a Smart Choice

Identity theft is a crime that can have a serious impact on the life of its victim. If you have your identity stolen it may impact your credit score, and it may make it difficult for you to get a mortgage, a car loan, or even a basic credit card. To correct all the problems that occur as a result of identity theft, you may need to spend hours on the phone, writing letters, and otherwise trying to untangle the mess that has been made of your credit. This can be a very stressful experience.

The best way to take action and to protect yourself from these problems is to choose identity theft prevention. With an identity theft prevention service such as http://www.identityguard.com, you are given tools that will help alert you to identity theft right away. You can then take prompt and swift action so you can stop the identity thief in his tracks before he has made a mess of your finances.

IDENTITY GUARD® gives you regular access to information on your credit as well as alerts when certain key events occur that may suggest identity theft. Armed with this information, you will be an educated and informed consumer who is best able to fight against identity thieves. Don’t wait until it is too late for you; get yourself identity theft prevention services through IDENTITY GUARD® today.

Credit Report Monitoring Is Important for Everyone

If you have credit cards or take on consumer debt, you probably already know that credit report monitoring is important to you. After all, you want to be sure that the information posted about your accounts is correct, and you want to keep tabs on what is going on with your debt and how your debts and payment history are affecting your credit. However, credit report monitoring isn’t just for individuals who have a lot of credit.

Monitoring your credit report is a smart choice for everyone, regardless of whether they don’t use credit at all, and regardless of whether they are elderly or children. Monitoring your credit report is essential for everyone because this type of monitoring helps you to fight identity theft.

Why Credit Report Monitoring is Important

In addition to keeping tabs on how your own credit and spending decisions affect you, checking your credit report regularly for signs of identity theft is the key reason why you should always have a credit monitoring service such as http://www.identityguard.com silver, gold, or platinum, CreditProtectX3®, or CreditProtect®. Any of these programs will let you have regular access to your credit report so you can spot signs of identity theft early and take action.

Don’t wait until your credit score is damaged to start your credit report monitoring. Sign up for IDENTITY GUARD®, CreditProtectX3®, or CreditProtect® and give yourself the important financial tools you need to help protect your all-important credit score.