Identity Theft Insurance: Advantages And Disadvantages

By Benedict Perez

What will you do if somebody steals your credit card, use it and spend hundreds of dollars or even thousands and leave you empty handed? Or what if someone used your name and accessed your personal information for their personal gain? These are just examples of what has known to be the widespread crime all over the United States of America - identity theft. According to statistics, out of 23 Americans, 1 is victimized by identity theft. That is roughly 10 million each year. Because of the increasing cases, identity theft insurance came into existence. It was designed for protection purposes against fraudulent activities that are happening everywhere.

It is important to secure your identity at all times. Whenever you are a victim of identity theft, it is not just about the money that you are going to pay. Remember, it is called identity theft because thieves have accessed your personal information. Not only that they can use them to purchase anything, but you can also be a victim of the court system. Creditors from banks will definitely prosecute you because the accounts are under your name. And because court processes takes a very long time, only a few had come to court and fight for their identity.

To protect our private information and financial stability, several companies had come up on a way to provide us the peace of mind. This is by offering us the identity theft insurance. Availing of its policies can secure us from fraud. These insurance providers offer coverage of certain expenses and direct monetary losses while recovering your financial identity.

Though it sounds rewarding, you have to choose your insurance provider well. Not all of them offer the same coverage and limitations.

It is important to know whether they cover direct monetary losses. These include the phone calls, the duplications of essential papers and documents and the salary loss due to work leave. There are identity theft insurance companies that do not cover all the expenses that you will incur from being a victim of identity theft. They are only limited to $100 to $250, the highest that you can get would probably $1,000. You would want to get a policy that covers such expenses.

There are also policies cover legal fees, some policies do not. You actually need not get a lawyer to resolve the case. All you need is time to deal creditors which can be annoying and hassle sometimes. One more disadvantage of this insurance is that it does not cover the expenses from theft if a family member is the one who committed the crime. So, you'll end up crying and paying for nothing.

Still, it is important to secure your personal information to prevent yourself from being a victim of this crime. Keep your Social Security Number for yourself. Never ever expose it to anybody even to customer service representatives and telemarketers. You will never know if they might be writing down your personal information over a piece of paper and later use them. When making a payment, it is always safer to do it online. Scratch papers with your details should be disposed properly. Also, it is important to constantly monitor your credit card transactions. - 32534

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