Identity Theft Really Needed

As a follow-up to our prior post on the need for identity theft insurance protection, a new survey demonstrates the impact that identity theft is having as more than 25% of consumers have suffered identity theft.  The Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index survey (see here) indicates that approximately one in five (19%) consumers report that financial information has been stolen (including a bank credit card number) and one in seven (14%) consumers report that other personal information has been stolen.

You would expect that most of this is unauthorized charges on a credit card, which it is (63%).  But it is surprising that 55% reported unauthorized charges or withdrawals from their checking account, and that 39% reported improper use of their personal information to open an account or engage in a transaction.  And 22% (almost a quarter) reported that someone obtained a new credit card in their name.  These are huge numbers.

But it won’t happen to me (57%), and I would do more to prevent it if I knew what to do (70%).  Here is what consumers are doing:

• Shredding – 84%
• Anti-Hacking Software – 51%
• Track Credit Reports – 46%
• Purchase Credit Monitoring – 25%
• Purchase Identity Theft Insurance – 14%

But current identity theft insurance does not solve the problem – it does not cover direct loss (see here).

Comments

[Evan]

Wow, we really need more articles like this to hit the mainstream and major news magazines to bolster the argument for insurance against identity theft.