TrustedID identity protection services are designed to help protect your identity and provide security from credit fraud.

However, even though TrustedID provides a valuable service to help protect you from identity thieves, many of the credit protection services they provide can be performed on your own for free.

These simple steps can help protect your identity against credit fraud, and save you money and time.

We’ve outlined the services provided through the TrustedID IDFreeze product and show you how to perform some of these steps on your own for free, although you may decide that TrustedID is worth the fee for these services, plus the additional features that you can’t get on your own.

TrustedID provides the following services to protect your identity:

1. Lender DoubleCheck
2. CreditLock
3. Credit Report Evaluation
4. Stop Pre-Approved Credit Card Offers
5. Credit Card Monitoring
6. $1,000,000 Identity Theft Insurance

1. Lender DoubleCheck

TrustedID places Fraud Alerts on your credit reports at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and it automatically maintains those Fraud Alerts for you.

Fraud Alerts are an indication to potential creditors that they must double-check your identity before issuing you a loan, credit card, etc. by calling you, sending you a letter, or cross-referencing your information.

Although TrustedID does provide Fraud Alerts, you can also set Fraud Alerts on your own for free by requesting an Initial Security Alert for 90 days, which you can then renew regularly, or an Extended Fraud Victim Alert for 7 years.

Although Fraud Alerts provide additional protection against identity theft, especially in regards to new accounts being opened in your name, they do not provide complete protection for your existing accounts or for accounts that don’t require a credit check.

You also have to consider that Fraud Alerts will be placed on your credit reports, but it is up to the creditors themselves to verify your information, which means the credit card issuers and personal loan providers, and they can’t exactly be trusted to perform this function effectively.

Even though Fraud Alerts are guaranteed under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, and the law indicates that the creditors must use “reasonable policies and procedures” to verify your identity before issuing credit in your name, the steps potential creditors take may not always alert them that the applicant is not you, and inside sources indicate that in the real world, creditors often don’t notice or simply ignore Fraud Alerts during their credit report reviews, especially the less reputable companies.

Visit Experian Fraud Alerts to activate Fraud Alerts.

You’ll only have to set your Fraud Alerts with one of the credit bureaus, because they must then notify the other credit bureaus to also set Fraud Alerts for all of your credit reports.

2. CreditLock

TrustedID provides CreditLock, which places a Security Freeze on your credit reports.

When a Security Freeze is set for your credit reports, third-party creditors will not have access to your credit reports without your consent, and this blocks identity thieves from opening new credit accounts in your name.

Security Freezes protect your identity, but they can also delay the process of applying for new credit, as you have to grant creditors temporary access to your credit reports, and there are also fees involved that vary by state, with a standard fee of $10 per credit bureau initially and for any subsequent temporary authorizations. The fee is waived in most states if you’re a victim of identity theft.

It’s important to understand that TrustedID does not pay for your fees, but they do provide assistance in placing the Security Freezes on all 3 of your credit reports from Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, and they also assist in managing temporary authorizations to creditors.

Security Freezes must be set at each credit bureau. Visit the links below to see the requirements and contact information for each credit bureau.

Experian Security Freeze

TransUnion Security Freeze (also includes listing of Security Freeze fees per state)

Equifax Security Freeze

3. Credit Report Evaluation

TrustedID offers their Credit Report Evaluation service, which provides you with your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion once every year.

However, this service is provided to consumers by law for free once a year already, and the credit bureaus have set up a central site to provide your with your free credit reports online.

AnnualCreditReport.com

If you haven’t obtained your credit report this year, we recommend you review your 3 credit reports for accuracy, as this is one of the first steps in identifying if you have been a victim of credit fraud.

Read our article on Ordering Your Credit Reports for Free to monitor your credit files.

4. Stop Pre-Approved Credit Card Offers

TrustedID prevents you from receiving pre-approved credit offers in the mail, which are a result of your information being sold by the credit bureaus to credit lending companies.

However, you have the right to choose not to receive these offers, and you can do so for free on your own.

This will prevent identity thieves from stealing these offers from your garbage and opening new accounts in your name, plus it will reduce your junk mail.

Simply visit the official website to opt out or call 1-888-5-optout.

OptOutPreScreen.com

5. Credit Card Monitoring

TrustedID does provide a Credit Card Monitoring service that monitors the Internet on a 24/7 basis and alerts you in real time to instances of your credit card numbers being used in fraudulent activity.

This is a unique service provided by TrustedID, but it’s hard to measure its true protection value, as your credit card numbers may never appear in the particular databases or networks being monitored, although it definitely adds an extra level of protection to the IDFreeze service.

Read our article on Credit Monitoring Services for more information on monitoring your credit reports.

6. $1,000,000 Identity Theft Insurance

TrustedID does provide a $1,000,000 guarantee to protect you in the event that your identity is compromised under their protection, which provides some extra comfort and peace of mind, and that’s something that doesn’t always come for free.

Is TrustedID worth the money?

Overall, TrustedID does provide a valuable service, but as you can see, many of these steps to protecting your identity can be taken on your own for free.

However, at $12.95 per month or $109.95 per year, you may decide it’s easier to hire TrustedID to protect your identity for you.

Read this additional article on Blocking Identity Theft for more information on protecting your identity from credit fraud, which includes information on a similar credit protection service provided by LifeLock.

LifeLock Identity Theft Prevention provides similar services to TrustedID, although they don’t provide such features as Security Freeze assistance and Credit Card Monitoring, but they do come at a slightly cheaper price.

Whether you choose to use TrustedID identity protection services or decide to protect your identity on your own for free, it’s important that you take some precautions against credit fraud and identity theft.

Thank you and enjoy maximizing money.