I'm following this closely as well. We have had two incidents that the CC company handled quickly with zero ramifications, so I'm looking to see if we need additional protection.
We use USAA for our insurance, I saw they offered some credit protection services. Anybody use that?
The best credit defense there is: have crappy credit
I've had no issues. The reason I got it is that someone stole one of my card numbers and went on a shopping spree. The CC company I was with shut it down immediately and took care of it, I guess it was obvious I wasn't overnighting Elton John Tickets from New York and going on a 4K shopping spree at Walmart.com. Ticketmaster came after me for those btw. CC company again, took care of it. However, that was enough to pay the $15 a month or whatever to be notified if someone is opening an account in my name.
What I recommend is that you use real time technology if you're worried that someone may have access to one of your CC numbers. You can set some CC accounts to text you EVERY TIME your CC is used. Couple that with a monitoring service to notify you any time your credit is pinged, goes up, or goes down and you're probably doing all that you can IMO.
Up until yesterday, I monitored it myself and will continue to do so. I pull 6 free credit reports a year (3 free for me and 3 free for my wife) and review the information. I have only found one issue on our reports and it was an incorrect previous address, that I disputed and removed in 1 day. I signed up for CreditKarma yesterday.
I also review our credit card transactions almost daily and have found several charges over the years. I make a call to the CC company and dispute the charge. They cancel the card and mail me a new on within a couple days. We purchase essentially everything on a card and pay it off every month, this includes home and auto insurance. In fact, I have had one card for over 25 years and have NEVER carried a credit card balance! We rack up southwest points to fly and stay places for free. I am going to get a Fidelity card soon, that pays 2% cash back on every purchase. That is the same as getting a 2% discount, including on insurance.
I'm starting to think this credit monitoring is a marketing gimmick and potentially a risk because just another organization has your information that can be stolen.
I also review our credit card transactions almost daily and have found several charges over the years. I make a call to the CC company and dispute the charge. They cancel the card and mail me a new on within a couple days. We purchase essentially everything on a card and pay it off every month, this includes home and auto insurance. In fact, I have had one card for over 25 years and have NEVER carried a credit card balance! We rack up southwest points to fly and stay places for free. I am going to get a Fidelity card soon, that pays 2% cash back on every purchase. That is the same as getting a 2% discount, including on insurance.
I'm starting to think this credit monitoring is a marketing gimmick and potentially a risk because just another organization has your information that can be stolen.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q="this+is+my+safety"&view=detail&mid=54AE55B4E2E72D59373954AE55B4E2E72D593739&FORM=VIRE
I check my bank transactions on a daily basis, without fail. First sign of problems I notify my bank to 'freeze' the transaction in question. I also am VERY careful about where I use my credit/debit cards/personal checks. I guess you could say that 'my finger (on the keyboard and with the pen) is my safety'.
I also shred instead of tossing anything that has identifying information on it.
I check my bank transactions on a daily basis, without fail. First sign of problems I notify my bank to 'freeze' the transaction in question. I also am VERY careful about where I use my credit/debit cards/personal checks. I guess you could say that 'my finger (on the keyboard and with the pen) is my safety'.
I also shred instead of tossing anything that has identifying information on it.
Turns out the secure info on their site only works with the 3 latest versions of each browser (which of course, don't work on slow dialup - the new ones just time out).
Be nice of they had that info on the signup page, but I finally got the account cancelled anyway.
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