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Equifax ID Patrol Review
Introduction
Equifax ID Patrol is a product of Equifax based in Atlanta, Georgia. Equifax is one of the three major credit reporting companies in the United States.
Regularly priced at $16.95 a month, Equifax ID Patrol offers consumers a range of services tailored to monitor and protect personal identity information such as credit card and social security numbers. The product also provides ways to respond to the occurrence of identity theft and assistance with the process of recovering from ID theft.
Features of ID Patrol
One of the main features of ID Patrol is the monitoring of your records at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You are notified if changes occur, allowing you to respond quickly to any developing issues before they get out of hand.
ID Patrol provides you with a 3-in-1 Credit Report. This report lists the information from the credit reports of all three major credit reporting agencies in a single, easy to read format.
Enrollment in ID Patrol allows you unlimited access to your Equifax credit report. Monitor your Equifax credit report when you want to, as often as you wish.
Your ID Patrol subscription also gives you the ability to lock and unlock your Equifax credit file in real time, so you decide who sees it and when. Locking your credit file prevents new lines of credit being opened because creditors and lenders normally will not open a new line of credit without first obtaining your credit report. Normally you would have to call Equifax and ask for this lock.
WebDetectTM – Personal information such as credit card numbers and social security numbers are traded online everyday. Equifax will scan the Internet for your personal information and will alert you if your provided information is found.
Automatic Fraud Alerts – This feature sets up a fraud alert on your Equifax report, which prompts lenders and creditors to contact you before creating any new credit accounts in your name. These alerts normally expire in 90 days, but using this feature, Equifax automatically renews your alert as long as you are paying for the ID Patrol product. Equifax also alerts Experian and TransUnion to the fraud alert status. They must then place a similar alert on their reports as well.
Identity Theft Resolution Specialists – Equifax offers 24/7 access to their team of identity theft specialists. The Equifax website offers no further information on who their specialists are or their qualifications.
Your subscription to ID Patrol provides you with $1,000,000 of identity theft insurance underwritten by AIG. There is no deductible on this policy. Certain limitations and exclusions apply, but access to this information is not available online.
Equifax ID Patrol is really offering you convenience. Several of the features of this product are already free to everyone, such as credit file locks, fraud alerts and credit reports from all three agencies. WebDetect, the insurance and credit report monitoring are the services you are paying for. These services are available from several vendors, but getting them from one of the three credit reporting agencies may make you feel a little more secure.