Identity Theft Insurance: Is it Worth Your Money?

The Internet is an ever changing and ever growing world, which means that the dangers of identity theft are increasing at an alarming rate. However this isn't only limited to the Internet, it's just as dangerous offline as well. If you think that you're not being targeted now, or won't be targeted sometime in the very near future then you're just fooling yourself. It's nearly inevitable. One way to combat identity theft, or at least the effects of it is to buy identity theft insurance.

As I said, if you use the Internet at all then you're at high risk. These days, simply logging onto the Internet makes you vulnerable for a virus, or spyware, which in turn puts your identity information at risk. If you're conducting online banking or making purchases online then you've just double and tripled your risk. Thieves are staying ahead of technical these days, so much so that the simple act of opening up your email is risky behavior.

It's important that you never click links from within your emails, especially from those of people that you don't know. Identity thieves will often send you an email asking you to update your account, or verify personal information. They'll send you emails that look exactly like official emails from companies that you're normally completely comfortable dealing with. For instance, companies like Paypal and Ebay are often used because these are very popular, and often used companies where your account with these companies is connected directly to either your bank account or your credit card.

Ways to avoid this is again to never click the link within the email itself. If you want to actually go and check out your account, you should go directly to the merchants website, and login from there. If there's a problem the company will certainly communicate this through your back office and not through the email itself.

If you're making purchases online, the one way to be sure that your safe, and that you're using a secure browser is to look at the URL of the page where you're making the purchase. What you're looking for is to see this in the beginning of the URL, "https" and not the usual "http" alone. The S stands for "secure" and therefore lets you know that it's safe to make your purchase.

It's certainly unrealistic to say that you should never use the web for making purchases or conducting business. That's just the way the world is heading and it's getting to be more and more trying to not have and use a computer for personal business.

Should You or Should You Not Buy Identity Theft Protection Insurance?

Between thieves grabbing your personal information online in the ways I've just described, or through physical ways like stealing your credit cards, or finding out your social security number and using that information for no good, the fact that your information will get stolen is more imminent.

Having insurance that will protect you when it does happen is probably a good idea. Buit there are some things that you should know about identity theft insurance.

First off, this insurance does not and will not fix your credit, nor your criminal record or reputation for that matter in the even of identity theft occurring. What the do cover is the basic expenses involved in getting your credit status back to where it should be. What this entails is things like attorney fees, other fees that will come from your credit card companies themselves, and retribution for days missed from work.

Second, it can get expensive. The cost is normally about fifteen to twenty dollars for each $15,000 to $25,000 covered.

What you do want to find out is if the credit card companies that you are using now have this insurance embedded within their plans already. Often consumers have no clue about their rights, or even the bonuses that go along with what they've purchased, so if you're not certain it's important that you check for yourself before you buy your own.

Identity theft insurance companies will monitor your credit report, most often annually. This by far not enough so a little due diligence will be needed on your part. One way to get around paying for a report is to utilize the system.

The big three credit reporting companies allow you one free report every year. Therefore to monitor your credit report every 3 months like your supposed to, after receiving your free one from your identity theft insurance company, you can then request one from each credit reporting agency every three months after that day. Doing this let's you monitor your credit record closely without spending an arm and a leg to do so.

Whether you buy identity theft insurance can only be your sole decision, but it's important to know your risks, and realize whether you want to be safer than sorry?