Lifelock
So I'm watching Breaking Bad on TV earlier tonight and this commercial comes on with this dude's social security number on the side of a van or billboard or something. I don't remember all of the details of the commercial but I did remember the name of the company. Lifelock. The CEO's name is Todd Davis and that really is his social security number. After visiting their web site I remember reading an article a couple of weeks ago about a guy that is in jail now for using Mr. Davis' Social Security number to get a loan.
Lifelock protects consumer's names and credit. For $10 a month they protect your name with a $1,000,000 service guarantee.
Basically they get the credit bureaus to set fraud alerts for you. Every three months or so they do the same thing. With the fraud alert set it makes it harder for people to get credit with your name and social security number.
After that they request that your information be removed from all of the pre-approved credit card and junk mail lists and they keep making the requests as they expire. I wasn't aware that they expire until tonight, which explains why I have started getting junk mail again lately.
Lifelock orders your credit reports and they get sent for you. Obviously this is free and you can do it yourself, but do you?
If you ever lose or have your wallet or purse stolen Lifelock will contact each credit card and bank to get cards canceled and new ones sent out at no additional cost.
The biggest benefit about joining Lifelock is that if your identity is ever stolen they will do whatever needs to be done to clear and recover your good name. Lawyers, investigators, whatever. They will even replace any money lost as a result of the identity theft. THAT'S where that $1 Million guarantee comes in!
Concise instructions on how consumers can get most of the services offered by Lifelock, for FREE by doing the work themselves, are available at http://www.richerbytheday.com/2007/11/free-services-provided-by-lifelock.html
Of course they are. Even lifelock tells you they are free. The benefit to using them is that unless you are like me and too darn cheap to spend the money, most people are more than willing to just pay and have it taken care of for them.
Just look at what a nanny state we've become for a great example. People would rather bury their head in the sand and let mommy take care of them than to stand up for what's right, particularly if it's harder on them. The same goes for private business as well. We have bceome a fast-food society in more ways than one.