Credit Monitoring & Insurance

[LittleSpiffy]

Last year, I got a nice letter from TD Bank that they lost personal data for 65,000+ customers/former customers.

Ooops.

They provided me with a free 1-year subscription to a credit monitoring service which included $20,000  of insurance coverage with a $250 deductible.

This service expires tomorrow.

I like the service, but would never pay $12.99/month for it...then again...that's a reasonable amount to pay for $20K of protection, right?

Has anyone ever benefited from this kind of service or is it just throwing money away?

[STLGusty]

Honestly, as long as you don't just blindly pay your credit cards without looking at the statement...or as long as you don't just let weird charges go unacknowleged on your bank statement...or as long as you don't just lose your debit and/or credit cards and not report them missing for months, I think you have adequate coverage without needing to purchase anything additional. 

Most companies now almost have automatic signals to weird charges and may alert you free-of-charge.  For example, my Dad's card number got stolen recently, and the credit card company alerted him of odd charges.  Also, some cards allow for you to sign up for e-mail/text alerts whenever your credit card is used WITHOUT having to show the card (for on line purchases, for example).  That way, if someone gets your information and tries to buy stuff on line, you'll get an alert saying what just happened.  If it's you making the purchase, great.  If it's NOT you, that's a problem.  Then you'd just have to call the company up and they will drop the charge for you.

Obviously things like the above affect your credit, but if you keep a close eye on your monthly finances, you should be fine.  Remember you can always get one free report per year from each of the main three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).  You could therefore check your credit for free every 4 months!

Personally, I'd say save your money... BUT if it makes you feel a lot better, the little extra money may be worth it for the peace-of-mind.

[LittleSpiffy]

Honestly, as long as you don't just blindly pay your credit cards without looking at the statement...or as long as you don't just let weird charges go unacknowleged on your bank statement...or as long as you don't just lose your debit and/or credit cards and not report them missing for months, I think you have adequate coverage without needing to purchase anything additional. 

Most companies now almost have automatic signals to weird charges and may alert you free-of-charge.  For example, my Dad's card number got stolen recently, and the credit card company alerted him of odd charges.  Also, some cards allow for you to sign up for e-mail/text alerts whenever your credit card is used WITHOUT having to show the card (for on line purchases, for example).  That way, if someone gets your information and tries to buy stuff on line, you'll get an alert saying what just happened.  If it's you making the purchase, great.  If it's NOT you, that's a problem.  Then you'd just have to call the company up and they will drop the charge for you.

Obviously things like the above affect your credit, but if you keep a close eye on your monthly finances, you should be fine.  Remember you can always get one free report per year from each of the main three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).  You could therefore check your credit for free every 4 months!

Personally, I'd say save your money... BUT if it makes you feel a lot better, the little extra money may be worth it for the peace-of-mind.

Thanks for the reply, STLGusty!!

I'm completely insane about keeping track of my finances.  I monitor everything, which I think is why I have that deep-rooted fear of the "What If..."

I'm going to let this subscription slide, although I enjoy seeing my credit score from all three agencies when I sign it .  They think I'm a good egg and this makes me happy ^_^

Aside from the protection that I have with each card, I think an insurance policy I already pay for covers this sort of thing...I'll have to dig that paperwork up.

[kaoskat]

Sounds like you have things figured out then.