by Brian Thompson | Jul 30, 2019 | Identity Theft
Employers often ask, “Why should I provide identity theft protection as an employee benefit?”. Let’s face it, we increasingly live our lives online. If it’s banking, social media, or buying products and services we constantly expose ourselves to potential fraud.
With that, employees are more aware of the issue either through personal experience or the frequent breaches in the headlines. But again, why should you add Identity Theft Protection as an employee benefit? After all, they can just go get it on their own, right…yes
But employees expect their employer to help them with their financial wellness. Employees expect financial vehicles such as 401k plans, disability insurance, medical insurance, life insurance, and student debt programs. And now, increasingly looking to employers for programs to protect them against the detrimental effects of Identity Theft.
If you have not considered Identity Theft Protection, here are the top reasons why you should consider it.
- It is a huge problem! The enormous number of breaches can not be overlooked. Employees are aware and understand that they are at greater risk now than ever before. Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) but so few people know what to do about it. The right Identity Theft Protection program mitigates the risks and gives employees a place to turn when fraud does happen.
- Productivity. Peace of mind is prerequisite to focus. Identity Theft is a huge distraction, one that interrupts focus and will negatively impact your
employee and your business. Employee’s dealing with identity theft are worried about financial security. An employee will spend anywhere from 40-60 hours during work on recovering their identity according to the FTC. Employees covered with an effective Identity Theft Protection program, a dedicated Recovery Advocate is assigned to the case. The recovery advocate will work on the employee’s behalf, ensuring resolution and alleviating time spent away from work. Peace of mind with a place to turn, keeping your employees focused and productive.
- Return On Investment. What is the cost of 7% of your employee group being out for 40-60 hours? The Return On Investment with a program is significant. Presenteeism, absenteeism, and lack of focus all result in a loss to the company. A program done with the right provider can significantly decrease the cost of a program, increasing your ROI.
- Protect the Company. Most breaches are a result of social engineering. Social Engineering is the use of deception to manipulate employees into divulging confidential or personal information for fraudulent purposes. Employee personal data exposure can give bad actors easy access to the company network. Identity theft protection programs can mitigate the risks of exposure by helping to identify and react rapidly when an employee has their identity stolen. Providers also provide educational awareness around the dangers of social engineering, password management, and other threats to decrease their susceptibility to threats.
- Attract and Retain by Staying Relevant. Employers are constantly competing with salary and benefits. In a world constantly peppered with cyberattacks, Identity Theft Protection is in high demand and more relevant than ever before.
- Attracting Talent is top of mind for many companies. Unique, personalized benefits packages that address the core benefits of financial wellness are staples to the package. Identity Theft Protection, often considered an ancillary benefit may be the benefit that puts you ahead of the competition.
- Retaining employees should be a driving factor in your benefits portfolio. Yes, attracting new talent might be the goal…but keeping the talent you have is a must. Continued engagement and value through Identity Theft Protection will help.
An Identity Theft Protection as an employee benefit is worth serious consideration. It will contribute to workplace productivity, allowing employees to stay focused on their job instead of the fears of identity theft. The risks of identity theft are real, affecting millions of employees and companies but a great provider can help.
Click here for or more information on What Identity Theft Protection Companies Actually Do
or here for the 14 Features of an Identity Theft Protection Company and the Most Important One!
by Brian Thompson | Jul 17, 2019 | Identity Theft
We all get bombarded with the reasons why we should have Identity Theft Protection. With all that noise it can get confusing as to what features really matter.
First, it is important to know the three main services of a provider. Then to understand how they do that with features. And Finally what feature is the most important from our perspective.
3 Main Services of Identity Theft Protection
Let’s start with the 3 main services that a provider offers:
Monitoring of your personal information
Alerts of PII Usage
Resources for recovery
Common Features of Identity Theft Protection
Now we can look at the broad scope of features that fit into each of these three categories. When we look at the broad market of identity theft protection there are 14 main features that providers have.
- Credit Monitoring, 1 or 3 bureaus depending on the program chosen
- Annual Credit report
- Monthly Credit Score Tracking
- Internet Dark Web
- Public Records
- Criminal Data
- Expense Reimbursement Insurance
- Lost Document replacement
- Credential Vault
- Data Breach Notifications
- Checking & Savings Account Activity Alerts
- Sex Offender List – Local notifications
- Social Media – Monitoring for language
- Full-Service Recovery
Now we can take a closer look at each feature to provide more insight into what really matters to you. Not all providers use the same feature names so it is important to know the details when evaluating your options.
Identity Theft Protection Feature Details
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Credit Monitoring:
Credit monitoring provides protection against identity theft by keeping you informed of changes to your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit file. Receive alerts within 24 hours on new activity such as credit inquiries, new credit lines, derogatory credit, name and address changes – to name a few. Your RecoveryAdvocate is available to help you if you have questions on any of the alerts you may receive. Your credit file is actively monitored by providers to ensure any identity theft event is recognized and, with the help of your Recovery Advocate, handled quickly and effectively.
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Annual Credit Report:
Receive your credit report once per year to review your report and ensure that your accounts are in proper standing.
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Monthly Credit Score and Tracking:
A credit score is used by lenders to help them make credit decisions. It is based on elements of your credit report, including how current your payments are, the type, number and age of accounts, total debt, how many inquiries your credit file has received for new accounts and many other factors. You will receive your current credit score from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, along with a valuable analysis which explains what factors are impacting your score. Even without an identity theft event, it is important for you to understand how credit scores may impact your ability to obtain credit.
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Internet Dark Web:
Deep, Dark and Surface Website Monitoring is an intelligent and proactive identity theft detection solution that searches for compromised information across the web, as well as underground forums and file-sharing sources.
By performing comprehensive reviews of websites frequented by hackers and cybercriminals, it is possible to detect your personal information being traded or sold before the criminal uses it.
When you enroll in a program, you will have full control over what information you choose to be monitored. Once enrolled, providers continuously (24/7) monitor the deep, dark and surface web to detect the trading and selling of your information. If providers find any of the information being monitored, you will receive a notification that your information has been found online. This alert allows you to take immediate action to prevent, or reduce losses, such as changing a password or closing an account.
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Public Records Monitoring:
Monitors millions of public and private database records to identify possible instances of identity theft. Fraudsters may have substituted a new billing address, used a false name or even changed your phone number to commit fraud using your social security number or other personal information. This tool will alert you of changes which may indicate an identity thief is using your information to access one of your existing accounts or has submitted an application to open a new account in your name.
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Criminal Data Monitoring:
Monitors millions of criminal and civil court records for your personal information. Criminal identity theft occurs when a fraudster, impersonating you, is caught by law enforcement.
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Identity Theft Protection Expense Reimbursement Insurance:
Expense Reimbursement Insurance is available to cover out of pocket expenses which you may incur during the recovery. Expenses may include, lost wages, long-distance telephone calls, postage and handling fees, fees for notarizing affidavits, document and filing fees for grants or credit applications rejected as a result of a Stolen Identity Event.
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Lost Document Replacement:
Recovery Advocates will work with you to cancel and replace credit cards and help you deal with the loss of other documents such as licenses, passports, personal bank accounts, and government-issued documents, to name a few!
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Credential Vault:
Credential Vault provides you with a means to record important data about your credit cards and other critical personal information that could be lost with your wallet or purse. As a result, you can safely access your personal information from any location with an internet connection. Securely store personal information including your credit cards, checking accounts, savings accounts, personal loan information, passport, retirement accounts, certifications, licenses, and more!
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Data Breach Notifications: (Not identity Theft Protection)
Periodic Notification of Breaches that occur. This creates awareness and provides information to clients concerning companies they may interact with.
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Checking and Savings Account Activity Alerts:
Account activity alerts allow you to monitor your accounts in one central location, similar to your online banking.
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Sex Offender List Notifications: (Not Identity Theft Protection)
Some providers offer a feature that will notify you when a sex offender moves in or out of a specified mileage from your home. This feature is not crucial to an identity theft protection program but clients do seem to like the feature.
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Social Media Monitoring: (Not Identity Theft Protection)
Social Media Monitoring notifies you when keywords are used in posts or posts you are tagged in. This can help protect against cyberbullying and reputation-damaging information directed at you or your family on social media.
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Full-Service Recovery for Identity Theft Protection:
You receive 24/7/365 support and access to a recovery expert. Full-Service Recovery protects you regardless of the type of identity fraud that has been perpetrated against you. This includes but is not limited to medical, financial, and criminal, as well as acts of terrorism. Above all fully managed recovery provides you with peace of mind knowing that if you ever fall victim to Identity Theft, you will have access to a dedicated certified Recovery Advocate. Recovery advocates work on your behalf restore your identity, through the use of a limited power of attorney. This work includes completing and filing forms, performing research and contacting all companies, agencies and financial institutions necessary, to ensure that any and all fraudulent activity that has been identified is addressed and resolved. NOT all providers will act on your behalf, be sure to understand what your chosen provider will offer.
From our perspective, the most important feature offered by Identity Theft Protection providers is Full-Service Recovery. Most features are important for risk mitigation, but all depend on the quality of the recovery in the end. Full-Service Recovery provides you with peace of mind with a place to turn.
Related Article:
by Brian Thompson | Jul 16, 2019 | Identity Theft
We all hear about the big breaches in the marketplace but what does that mean to us, what can an identity theft protection services actually do to protect us?
If these questions have ever run through your mind, you are not alone! But, we should understand these services and what they offer.
First! No, Identity theft protection services DO NOT prevent identity theft. The prevention of identity theft is a far fetched idea at this point. You would have to gain/regain control over all of your personal information from every area of your life and secure that information. This, unfortunately, is unrealistic as most of our information is out there already. We provide our Personal Identifiable Information (PII) for almost everything/transaction we do. Our own behavior and the companies we associate with every day are susceptible to breach or mishandling information, putting us all at risk. This alone creates exposure to everyone far more than ever, leaving us as companies and individuals to take any and all precautions to reduce our risk.
What Identity Theft Protection Services Really do:
Identity theft protection services provide a central location for you to monitor several key warning signs of identity theft, provide alerts of a threat and most importantly, a path to recovery from your identity being stolen.
There are three main services that a provider offers:
- Monitoring of your personal information
- Alerts you when that information is used resources for recovery
- Recovery
Some providers also offer features less focused on identity theft protection, such as alerts about breaches, language monitoring on social networks, and local sex offender registries.
A Closer Look at the Three Main Services:
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Monitoring:
Providers will monitor your PII for any activity, such as:
- Credit Inquiries
- New accounts opened in your name
- USPS Change of address request
- PII bought and sold on the dark web
(Click here for a list of Features Used to Monitor your identity by providers)
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Alerts:
You are notified of a compromise via, Phone, Email, and Text. Alerts are important because this will mitigate the risk of long term identity theft and will help to minimize all the negative effects of stolen information. People rarely know their identity is stolen until the damage has been done, banks accounts drained, credit ruined, and a ton of new debt in their name.
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Recovery:
Just knowing that someone may have hacked your information to use fraudulently doesn’t help you much. When you get that alert, you want to be able to turn to someone and take action. Providers give you that place to turn when you have a concern. This is by far the most important of the 3 services.
When an alert comes in, you have a dedicated team to assist you with your questions. A recovery expert will guide you through the recovery process or take control of that process on your behalf when you become a victim. Preferably, the recovery expert takes control of that process through a limited power of attorney, working on your behalf so you can have peace of mind that a true expert is taking care of things for you.
Identity Theft Protection Monitoring is not for everyone. Having a place to turn when you are a victim is. Although these features mitigate risk, they do not have to be turned on when you enroll. The extent to which you want to add information is up to you and only you. Our advice is to find a provider you are comfortable with, sign up, only add the information you want to be monitored. At this point, you have set yourself up for a successful, expedient recovery that you are comfortable with.
