Credit Monitoring - Who Needs It?

Credit monitoring is the single-most encountered component in an identity theft protection service, but it is arguable the least effective, as well.

When a company issues credit, they are required to meet certain guidelines spelled out in the Red Flags Rule, basically keeping an eye out for suspicious activity, and letting you know if they find something that doesn't match up with the information you provided. In theory, this will help bring identity theft to a halt. Coupled with the fact that companies which issue credit are ever-attentive to the possibility of credit fraud, credit monitoring alone is not really worth paying for.