A Credit-able Service?

In protecting yourself from identity theft, credit monitoring promises to keep you safe - for a small fee, of course

By Jason Newman DAME Magazine
Published: Aug 13, 2007

 Denise Richardson should know. A board member of American Consumer Credit Education and author of Give Me Back My Credit!, Richardson spent 15 years straightening out her credit report after various mortgage payments were misapplied or were not credited. “I got notices in the mail that told me everything was okay,” she explains. “It would be a great service for consumers if it actually did prevent identity theft, and I don’t think anything on its own can actually prevent identity theft, but I think credit monitoring services are more a reactive type of service than proactive.”

Richardson is more adamant about the monthly charges, which range from $7 to $15 depending on the issuing bank. “Identity theft is scary enough and for us to pay to have our data monitored and protected I feel should be part of [the credit card companies’] cost of doing business. They found a hook to lie their hat on so they could say, ‘Hey, now there’s another way to make more money.’ What are they selling? They’re selling us. We’re their product.”

For entire DAME magazine article written by Jason Newman see below link