Life on Florida’s West Coast

Placing Credit Alerts

Credit reporting agencies are a necessary evil. Our economy tends to be based on their services: can I get a car loan, a credit card, or a mortgage? But, these are also profit-making businesses – don’t be fooled. There are all sorts of fees you will have to pay if you want to place alerts on your credit (though a temporary alert is free) or opt out of things like those incessant credit card application mailings. Those mailings, by the way, are a HUGE factor in identity theft in the first place. I suppose that just means more potential profit for the reporting agencies.

Now one of the three credit reporting agencies, Experian, is suing Lifelock. Why? Because Lifelock charges their own customers a minimal $10 fee and in return they make sure there is always a temporary alert on your credit report. Experian claims this is costing them money in the long run. They say that Lifelock is lying to their customers, by leading them to believe they must pay Lifelock to have these temporary alerts places when the temporary (90 day) alerts are free.

I ask you? – Do you have the time to remember to place an alert with all three credit reporting agencies every three months like clockwork? It seems like $10 is a small price to pay for the services Lifelock is offering.

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