Even if you have managed to get control over your cash flows, set aside savings, properly insure yourself, get involved in a retirement program, you still have some financials risks to consider. In fact, if your are not involved with some kind of credit and identity monitoring program, you are leaving yourself exposed.
Per the Insurance Information Institute, in 2020, there were 4.6 million complaints for identity theft and fraud reports received by the FTC. One way you can protect yourself is through a credit monitoring and indenting theft monitoring. I am currently using this service IdentityIQ. The beautify of this particular service is that in addition to monitoring your credit, it will also show help you run simulations to determine what actions you need to do in order to increase your credit score. This particular subscrption uses the vantage score versus a FICO Score. IF you want the FICO Score they offer a subscription version. Both have a seven day trial for $1. After the trail, is it only a $27.99 + Tax per month.
Whether you use this service or another one, this is something you should be monitoring and keeping your eyes on. I’ve heard of stories where the identity theft was not discovered until after taxes were reported. Other places it unveils itself is in the loan process. Do yourself a favor and get in front on this potential problem.
Nothing is fool proof, but please avail yourself to some kind of service in order for your to prevent this potential issue. On the Experian website, it lists 4 types of costs associated with identity theft: 1) Time and Money- takes on average 200 hours to resolve once discovered, 2) Criminal Record – if person stealing your identity gets in criminal trouble, 3) Credit Damage, and 4) Emotional distress.
Ironically, the other night I was watching the movie Identity Theft with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. If this should happen to you, you won’t get the entertainment value that was shown in the movie.