credit monitoring service recommendations?

[gorobei]

friend lost their passport in the US, they cancelled the passport with the dept of state so no one can use it to travel. However they are worried about someone using it to open bank/cc accounts with it.

any recommendations for a credit monitor service?

is equifax/experian/transunion the go to? or is one of the third party (creditsesame/creditkarma) monitor only ones better for this?

any suggestions, experiences welcomed.


thanks.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I use creditkarma and it works pretty well. It looks at the 3 big ones - I have it for free...not sure if it costs now or not.

 

[gorobei]

I use creditkarma and it works pretty well. It looks at the 3 big ones - I have it for free...not sure if it costs now or not.

looks like karma is still offering free service, not sure how they make their money.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

unless they really need to apply for credit now just freeze them. It's free. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs

 

[gorobei]

unless they really need to apply for credit now just freeze them. It's free. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs

good to know. hopefully they dont charge too much nowadays.

 

[ultimatebob]

looks like karma is still offering free service, not sure how they make their money.

By offering you other personalized credit products based off of your credit score.

I wouldn't be surprised if they sold your contact info to lenders as well. I've never read their privacy policy that closely, though.

 

[freeskier93]

How would someone open bank accounts or credit cards in your name with a passport? Let alone a cancelled passport?

 

[gorobei]

How would someone open bank accounts or credit cards in your name with a passport? Let alone a cancelled passport?

2 forms of id to open an account, DL or state id can be harder to counterfeit but swapping a passport photo is easy. anyone's ssn can be found online and most people dont have huge experience with fake soc security cards.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Just having an ID doesn't mean anything. Banks actually check the ID number. It's part of know-your-customer (KYC) regs. Still a good idea to put a freeze. Personally, I wouldn't pay anything for a service, but checking your free credit report online and tracking your credit score through your credit card are always good ideas.


Stolen identities are great because the individual doesn't know, so nothing is canceled, but a lost and reported document can only really get you into a bar.

 

[freeskier93]

2 forms of id to open an account, DL or state id can be harder to counterfeit but swapping a passport photo is easy. anyone's ssn can be found online and most people dont have huge experience with fake soc security cards.

You watch to many movies.

 

[gorobei]

got them signed up with creditkarma, any attempts to open new accounts should show up as a hit to the score.

 

[TwiceOver]

I can't remember how I did it, but I put a fraud alert on my accounts with the big three reporting agencies. Now whenever I apply for credit the issuer calls my cell phone to verify I'm actually applying for a form of credit.

But yeah, freezing is a good idea. I believe (could be wrong so slow down there keyboard rangers) it costs money to unfreeze them. AnnualCreditReport.com yearly to make sure nothing fishy is going on.

 

[lk2500]

friend lost their passport in the US, they cancelled the passport with the dept of state so no one can use it to travel. However they are worried about someone using it to open bank/cc accounts with it.

any recommendations for a credit monitor service?

is equifax/experian/transunion the go to? or is one of the third party (creditsesame/creditkarma) monitor only ones better for this?

any suggestions, experiences welcomed.


thanks.

Credit monitoring is fine but you will only find out if somebody actually was successful at getting credit in your name after the fact. Make sure the one you go with let's you pull your credit report unlimited amount of times and that they claim to track the internet for any address changes and other stuff.

Speaking form experience (unfortunately) - if your SSN/Birthday/Address have been compromised then a credit freeze with all 3 bureaus is required immediately. Unless it's changed in the past year it costs $10 to set up each one and $10 each time you unfreeze it.

Without the freeze anybody with that info can apply for an online SSN account, credit cards, credit karma and similar accounts, utilities, cell phones, etc.... Each of those will require a hard pull against one of the credit bureaus - they still need to answer a few questions correctly - but if they try enough sites they will eventually get them right since they're multiple choice. With a credit freeze their application will just be halted since they can't do a hard pull.

I would apply for your online SSN account and credit monitoring prior to the freeze - otherwise you have to pay for an unfreeze it to set those accounts up.

Supposedly the freeze/unfreeze is free in some states - but you have to prove you were a victim of id theft. I have not studied those details.

The second most important thing I can recommend is a locking mailbox. All the credit bureaus, IRS, banks, credit card companies, etc.. will only officially send you notices via snail mail so you want a secure mailbox.

If you have any further questions let me know.