Lifelock and such

[Tom S.]

Lifelock is a waste of money IMHO. All they do is contact the three major credit agencies and tell them not to issue any credit in your name other than what you already have. You can do that yourself for free if you want. Because of this, Lifelock can be a hassle if you decide to buy something and either finance it differently or through a different source, such as buying a car and financing it through a new bank that's offering a special interest rate. Actual identity theft is rare, and in many cases, it's someone you know. I'm sure that fraudulent charges on your credit card are counted by LL as identity theft, but they aren't really. I've had new cards re-issued twice when it happened to me, and in both instances, the credit card company contacted me about suspicious activity. They called me, and I refused to speak to them, telling them I would call them back on the number that is on the back of the card. Both times, they told me small charges were made, and when I told them they were not made by me, they canceled the charges, cancelled the card (shame because I memorized it), and sent out a new one within a week. They explained that people will make up numbers and try them on small charges, like music down loads. If those charges go through, they know the card is good and move on to higher charges. In both cases, the card was cancelled before any large items were charged. FWIW, I buy lots of things via the net and haven't had any problems with erroneous charges or id theft.

I do shred all personal info with a cross cut shredder (cuts into small rectangles instead of long strips), always take my receipts, and never deal with any online places without checking them out first.