Is lifelock.com a good company for protection against fraud?

It's an identity theft protection service, and none of these are worth the money. They don't do anything for you that you can't do yourself.

Here's what most people need to do:

- Every year, request a free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com (the only one that is really free). Review the report and if you see any problems, contact the credit bureau immediately.

- Don't give you social security number to anyone unless absolutely necessary.

- Shred all personal documents, bills, etc. before throwing them away.

- If your state allows it, put a "security freeze" on your credit. This means that nobody will be able to check your credit or open a new account in your name until you approve it ahead of time.

Of course not ! Fraud alerts complicate the credit approval process. Banks must go through an additional verification process to make sure you’re the one applying for credit, so instant approval becomes difficult. Using your cell phone number as the contact number will allow you to be contacted quicker.

You may be unable to access some online credit management services due to the fraud alert. LifeLock’s services are things you can do for free, with the exception of the $1 million guarantee. Ordering your annual credit reports, opting-out of pre-approved credit card offers, and placing a fraud alert on your credit report can all be for free.

They don't really do anything for you that you can't do for yourself; they just bundle it all together for a fee. You are basically paying to have someone else do the work for you. If you can afford it, it may be worth the money to have someone else look after your ID. But if you can't, you aren't really missing anything.

no