Personal identity theft has become a lot more newsworthy lately. Some experts say that it's receiving much more attention than it should. It has become so common in the news that there is now an insurance to cover it called personal identity insurance.
What Does It Cover?
The insurance itself generally costs about $25 to $50 per year and covers from $15,000 to $25,000 of costs including lost wages from time to taken off from your job to deal with the fraud problem. Coverage for job loss is usually capped at $500 per week for a maximum of four weeks. This insurance may also cover some legal fees.
Some insurance may also cover special mailing charges to mail fraud affidavits to the correct people. Fees for credit cards and loans that were applied for and rejected due to false information are at least partially covered.
Any long distance charges to banks etc. to discuss the fraud can also be covered.
This may seem like a good deal for the money but keep in mind a few things. Identity theft is very unlikely. The chances of being victimized are only about 0.35%. Chances are it will never happen to you.
The coverage may seem adequate but when actually broken down, parts of it aren't very useful. For example, the lost wage item sounds good but at $500 a week, it's not enough to cover what many people would be making. As well it doesn't consider that many people are unable to take time off from work.
Personal identity theft coverage doesn't fix your credit or criminal record as home or auto insurance might do. It strictly helps with the expenses so you can fix it on your own. The expenses entailed generally don't surmount $1,000 so you may find that purchasing a policy is of no benefit.
| Are you looking for more tips about how you can stop identity theft? Get more helpful information about how to protect yourself from this and other online security issues at the Online Security Toolkit website. |
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