by JohnSwanson » Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:53 pm
This past Monday I went to annualcreditreport.com to pull all 3 of my credit reports. My Equifax report was
the first one that annualcreditreport.com tried to download, but the download attempt failed due to the
high level of traffic on the Equifax website! So I went on to the Experian report, which took only a few
minutes to download. Although I didn't have an Experian profile, a window showed the settings of my
Experian account and I was able to activate a fraud alert that applies to all 3 of my credit reports!
My Experian and TransUnion credit reports show no signs of fraud.
The following morning, I created an Experian account so that I could confirm that the fraud alert is active
and it is! Experian automatically sends my fraud alert to the other 2 credit bureaus. In addition, I was
shown 2 levels of identify theft protection that I can purchase, for $9.99 and $19.99/mo. I looked for
reviews of the higher-priced plan, which is called Experian IdentityWorks Premium, and found that it offers
the same benefits that the LifeLock Ultimate Plan offers, but costs $10/mo less! Since I read reviews by
LifeLock users who had their identities stolen and weren't warned by LifeLock, this plan wasn't in the running!
Today I purchased an Experian IdentityWorks Premium policy and configured my profile so that these
accounts are monitored:
- Social Security
- Email Addresses
- Telephone Numbers
- Driver's License
- Passport
- Bank Accounts
- Credit/Debit Cards
My plan also monitors medical Id's, retail membership cards, and social media accounts, but I chose not to
add these to my account. Although this is the first time that I purchased identity theft protection, it looks
like the Experian IdentityWorks Premium plan is very thorough! If there's no blow-back from the Equifax
hack, I'll probably cancel my IdentityWorks subscription in a couple of years.
By the way, the odds are 1-in-2 that you are a victim of the Equifax hack!
John