Why Wouldn't You Pay for an ID Theft Program?

June 2007
By Mark Pribish, Director of Identity Theft Management Services Merchants Information Solutions, Inc.

There have been some recent news articles questioning why an individual consumer would purchase an identity theft (ID Theft) product or service.

This debate has focused mostly on one point, why would anyone pay for something that you can do for yourself. Depending on the type of ID Theft program being purchased, the question is fair and valid – as not all ID Theft programs are created equal.

However, if a consumer has an ID theft program that will save them time and money -- while being provided a valuable service by a professionally trained individual, then such a service is not much different than the following examples of what consumers pay for on a regular basis but can easily do themselves:

1. Car Wash


2. Laundry/Dry Cleaners


3. Lawn Mowing Service/Landscaping


4. Health Club/Personal Trainer


5. Pool Service


6. Shoe Shine


7. Fast Food Restaurants/Prepared Food at Grocery Store


8. Nail Salons for Manicures/Pedicures

Most people can wash their cars and do all the services listed above for either free or less money! However, the motivation of the consumer in paying for these services is to save time and money while having these services done better and quicker by a reliable professional service provider.

So the question should not be whether a consumer should purchase an identity theft program. The question should be does the consumer value a service that is proactive and responsive in helping protect one’s personal information and restore one’s personal identity?

An identity theft program can protect and restore a consumer’s personal information by including one or more of the following:

1. Managed Recovery/Resolution


2. Credit Report/Score and Daily Monitoring/Alerts


3. Expense Reimbursement


4. Education

Identity theft programs can be offered through your credit card company, financial institution, association membership, employer group as an employee benefit, homeowners or rental insurance policy, or even as a stand alone identity theft membership program.

Those who question the value of an identity theft program believe that every individual is capable of recovering their own identity. The facts are that not everybody has the time, knowledge, patience, and in the case of complicated ID Theft events, the money to support the recovery of one’s identity.

A consumer should ask the following questions if an identity theft program is being offered so that the consumer can make an informed choice:

1. Does the ID Theft program include family fraud?


2. Does it include unknown, pre-existing ID Theft events/fraud?


3. Does it include self-employed individuals?


4. Does it include benefits for children from date of birth to early adulthood?


5. Does it include children attending college, living away from home whose primary address is the parents address?


6. Does it include non-financial ID Theft events?


7. If the program includes expense reimbursement – what is the coverage amount and does it exclude any of the above?

Most people do not know if they will have the time – especially during the work day – to make contact and complete the proper follow-up with numerous companies and organizations including the credit bureaus, Division of Motor Vehicles, Social Security Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Medical Information Bureau, along with other state and federal agencies, financial institutions, credit card companies, insurance companies, utility providers, phone companies, past and present employers, etc.

Statistics indicate the average person will spend more than 81 hours (mostly during the work day) recovering from an identity theft event and that 33 percent cannot resolve their case after one year.

In summary, consumers should consider the value of an identity theft program that is proactive and responsive in protecting one’s sensitive personal information – especially when a complicated identity theft event could impact your credit score, insurance rates and/or employment application.

ID Theft Costly

ID THEFT EMERGING AS COSTLY AND TIME CONSUMING FOR COMPANIES; BUSINESSES FIND THEMSELVES UNPREPARED FOR DATA BREACHES

Merchants Information Solutions’ Director of ID Theft Management Offers Expert Tips and Advice for Businesses

PHOENIX, ARIZONA (June 4, 2007) — Over the last several years, identity theft has become a billion dollar business and it’s costing American business and consumers significant time and money to navigate and recover from the damages. ID theft has become so lucrative; many criminals have turned away from attacking individual targets and are now focused on obtaining personal information from business entities. According to the 2007 study by Javelin Strategy & Research identity theft costs businesses $49.3 billion a year. The same study reported that 8.4 million adult Americans, or one in 27, learned that criminals committed fraud with personal data such as credit card or social security numbers.

According to Mark Pribish, Director of Identity Theft Management Services for Merchant Information Solutions, every company is vulnerable to thieves bent on stealing personal and business information. Pribish said “that if some of the most well known, financially strong and technology driven insurance companies, banks and universities – which require personal and confidential information – cannot protect themselves from being breached, why would we believe that most businesses (i.e. hospitals, medical & dental groups, home/auto agents, employer groups, government agencies, phone companies, tax preparers, utility companies, etc.) can secure our personal information?”

“Even the most diligent companies cannot protect their employees and customers from identity theft,” Pribish said. “The consequences from these data breaches include lost productivity and absenteeism of employees trying to recover from being an ID Theft victim; to the legal and financial liabilities for companies that face lawsuits, fines and penalties due to lost or stolen employee and/or customer data.”
Pribish offers advice to employer groups; financial institutions and associations on how to support a comprehensive information security plan that can help protect the confidential data of employees, bank customers and members of professional associations. “If senior management of any organization is talking about what to do or who to call after their organization has a data breach – it’s too late,” stated Pribish.

“While companies are beginning to protect themselves against the possibility of confidential data being stolen, both individuals and businesses should take action and be proactive in protecting their information.” Pribish is national expert in the field of identity theft recovery and has authored numerous articles for both business and consumers relative to the challenges of and solutions for identity theft related events. Pribish has more than 18 years of experience in working with financial institutions, employer groups and associations in the areas of affinity marketing, risk management, and incident data breach services the U.S.
Merchants Information Solutions is as leading provider of comprehensive identity theft management services to companies as an employee benefit, customer benefit or member benefit.

About Merchants Information Solutions, Inc.

Phoenix-based Merchants Information Solutions, Inc. has been in business since 1912, and is a privately held company with more than 4,000 business clients. Merchants is a nationally recognized provider of several key products for individuals and businesses:

    Identity theft management and recovery solutions

    Pre-employment screening and background checks

    Resident Screening


— Integrity testing/behavioral assessments Merchants also provides consumer and mortgage credit information. Merchants is the parent company of Personnel Profiles Screening (www.personnelprofiles.com), American Tescor, LLC (www.americantescor.com) and ID Advocates (www.idadvocates.com). For more information about Merchants Information Solutions, please visit www.merchantsinfo.com.

A New School Year Brings More Opportunities For ID Theft

By Mark Pribish, Director of Identity Theft Management Services
Merchants Information Solutions, Inc.

As the school year begins in many areas of the country during the next few weeks, I was reminded of how children can become victims of identity theft – as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has estimated that about 400,000 children have their identities stolen each year.

This reminder was never more evident than when my seventh grader and I went shopping for school supplies last week and one of the required school items was a minimum 1 gigabyte flash drive. This made me think of how school children today either have (or have access to) cell phones, laptops, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and now flash drives -- in addition to the home computers of their parents.

I also thought about my children’s private information since their social security numbers are at my current and former employers (for access to health insurance); at Chase Bank related to their savings accounts; at Edward Jones related to their Virginia 529 savings plans; as well as their school or school systems. And if you use a professional tax preparer, like I do, I am fairly certain that your children’s social security number(s) can be found in the files of your tax preparer too.

Children can also be tricked into giving up personal information in phishing scams ranging from fraudulent websites to entering contests – where identity thieves steal personal information.

More recently, some news articles have highlighted the challenges and pitfalls with children participating in social networking sites – where personal safety as well as personal information is at risk – especially if children are not educated on how to keep their information private.

Since children have no credit history – or better yet, no negative credit history – children are targets for identity thieves and can be a victim for years until they apply for their first job as a teenager. One recommendation that I always make to family and friends is to check their children’s credit report every year. This can be done at no cost by going to annualcreditreport.com or by calling each of the three credit bureaus.

If a parent learns that any of their children are a victim of identity theft, then the parent needs to contact each of the three major credit bureaus, file a police report, file an affidavit with the FTC, as well as contact the bank or credit issuer to remove the child’s name from the fraudulent related record.

So for many of you, the start of another school year means buying all kinds of school supplies including flash drives.

And for those parents who are sending their children back to college (or to college for the first time), you may want to add identity theft education to the list of discussion items as one more precaution to support your and your children’s peace of mind!