Thread: Lifelock

Let me just preface any response with I think it would be easier in the long run if you just opened a supporting member program. It doesen't have to come to this Z.

Nope I am impossible to impersonate

ummmm let's see if I get this straight.

First: I give all of my personal financial information to these guys.

Second: I am assured that they are using 512 bit encryption on all of their transactions and queries (not).

Third: I know the personal and criminal backgrounds on every employee and contractor that works for these guys (not).

Fourth: I have seen all of their quarterly financials and know they are capable of paying me (and possibly 500 other people) $1,000,000.00 (not).

Fifth: I pay these guys and roll the dice they will still be around in say . . . 6 months?

Pass . . .

Scam. You can what they charge you to do, quite easily yourself. They are essentially, placing "fraud alerts" on your credit reports so new credit can't get issued to you absent a bit of work on your part.

Save the money, do it yourself if you're concerned.

Originally Posted by abtech

ummmm let's see if I get this straight.

First: I give all of my personal financial information to these guys.

Second: I am assured that they are using 512 bit encryption on all of their transactions and queries (not).

Third: I know the personal and criminal backgrounds on every employee and contractor that works for these guys (not).

Fourth: I have seen all of their quarterly financials and know they are capable of paying me (and possibly 500 other people) $1,000,000.00 (not).

Fifth: I pay these guys and roll the dice they will still be around in say . . . 6 months?

Pass . . .

Good points all. My worry with ANY data is the same as email. Email is forever. Even if these guys are 100% legit and honest and intend to keep every promise, what of the next CEO? Or they go bankrupt and someone buys the assets? I believe in civil disobediance on ALL data gathering. Whenever possible refuse to provide the data, whenever legal provide information that will mess with their database. Make shearing the sheeple less profitable and they will stop the activity. If it was not for laws protecting the willful ignorance and sloppy procedures the credit agencies would change practices. 1984 did happen 23 years ago

I've been watching them, but not b/c I'm interested as a consumer; more for work...back burner stuff. I also generally follow a blog written by a guy that was and angel investor and his VC company also invests.

They aren't a scam, but that's not to say that they are doing anything that you can't do on your own. They provide you a service. They do the "headache" stuff so you don't have to.

I am going to join.

I need someone to steal my identity.

I'll split it with you...

Originally Posted by Heavy-Dee

They aren't a scam...

True, I shouldn't of used the word "scam", they are a legit business. However, I should of been more clear. "Not worth it", is what I should of said. Much like those "corporation document" services, or "passport filing" services they basically do for you what you can already do with a phone call/letter. My advice to any considering it, save your money, there are enough people getting in our wallets these days.

ID-protection ads come back to bite pitchman - Yahoo! News

oops

fraud-alert-service-pays-12-million-settlement: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

Originally Posted by abtech

First: I give all of my personal financial information to these guys.

You give all your personal information to your bank, your doctor's office, your insurance companies, the telephone company, the cable company, and a host of OTHER businesses. What makes all the others more competent? What assures you that one of THEIR employees doesn't steal your ID or money?

Heck, you hand your credit card to the 19 year old punk at Applebee's - what to stop him/her from stealing the info, charging up a storm, or - worse yet - using it to steal your ID?

Second: I am assured that they are using 512 bit encryption on all of their transactions and queries (not).

Did you ask them? What type of certifications do they maintain (e.g., SaS 70, etc.)?

Third: I know the personal and criminal backgrounds on every employee and contractor that works for these guys (not).

Do you know the personal and criminal backgrounds on everything and contractors that work for your bank, your doctor's office, your insurance companies, the telephone company, the cable company, and a host of OTHER businesses. What makes all the others' employees more competent?

Fourth: I have seen all of their quarterly financials and know they are capable of paying me (and possibly 500 other people) $1,000,000.00 (not).

They never said they would PAY YOU $1M. They said they would SPEND up to a $1M getting your problems fixed. It would never COST that much to "fix" any problems. Even if they had to, they are backed by a big ass venture capital firm. They HAVE the capital, but would undoubtedly never need it.

Fifth: I pay these guys and roll the dice they will still be around in say . . . 6 months?

They've been around for 5 years now. I'd say they'll be there in 6 months.

Pass . . .[/QUOTE]That said, they aren't doing anything spectacular. They put a fraud alert on your files at the three CRAs, and they monitoring your history for activity (e.g., new accounts, etc.) and let you know when someone has changed. Some people don't mind paying a few bucks a month to have someone watching their files.

OTOH, all you really need to do is pull your history a couple times a year and make sure nothing funny is going on. You get one freebie from each of the three CRAs per federal law, so if you are comfortable with that, then once a year is what you get. Some folks sign up for other monitoring services. Again, they are simply automating the process of notifying you IF activity occurs. The earlier you catch it, the easier it is to get straightened out.

I grab our reports a couple times a year (manually) and review. Nothing is perfect, but I feel confident that what I do is good enough to avoid ID theft and to help address it before it grows into something crazy. And it's nice to know things are in shape before applying for a car loan, mortgage, or other form of credit.