Identity theft protection (merged)

victoir_2 · 16 September 2005 at 9:17AM

I've just activated my A&L Premium Plus debit card, and got some hard sell about identity theft and how they offer a service to protect you.

It's for the princely sum of £49.99 per year, and is described on https://www.protectmyidentity.co.uk. What do you reckon? Worth it? Or can I do pretty much the same for free?

tonyhuntley · 7 December 2005 at 2:29PM

I have been offered Identity Protection Insurance when registering my credit/debit cards with Card Protection Plan, costing £50 per year.Is this a good deal? Does anyone have experience of claiming against this cover?

BenL · 9 December 2005 at 7:55PM

Welcome to MSE Tony

You need to look into getting a Capital One credit card if you are worried this may happen.

Martin has an article on the site somewhere with the details but I believe they cover all your other cards/accounts as well.

Ben

hollie.weimeraner · 10 December 2005 at 1:54PM

This really is Insurance companies taking advantage of the scaremongering re Identity Theft. What people need to remember is that if any company provides goods/services or loans to someone providing false details then it is that company that is liable for the losses - NOT the person whose details have been fraudulently used, so why do you need insurance for something that you are not liable for?

Granted, it will cause you major problems in so much as you may well be required to provide proof that it wasn't you that signed any agreements or took out any loans but you should be able to do this quite esaily by providing copies of signatures, proof of address etc etc to name a couple. ID fraud is easy because companies make obtaining goods/services too easy and don't carry out sufficiently stringent credit checks because at the end of the day they want to make a sale without giving the opportunity for us to change our minds or go elsewhere.

You'd be better off investing your money in a good shredder and shredding every single piece of personal information that is heading to the dustbin, that way you will reduce the risk of id fraud to a minimum.

Browntoa · 10 December 2005 at 2:39PM

you can get protective Registration For an administration fee of £11.75 (£10 plus £1.75 VAT) CIFAS offers a service, provided on their behalf by Equifax, to protect your name and address from being misused in this way.

http://www.cifas.org.uk/protective_registration.asp

As a result of the entry CIFAS members will verify further the identity of applicants, and in some cases request further proof of identification, and this may mean you personally experience delays while your credentials are fully checked out.

If you believe the identity of a deceased person may be used by a fraudster to obtain credit or other products and services, a CIFAS Protective Registration may be placed by a relative or executor against the deceased person’s address.

bit cheaper than £50 !!

James · 13 December 2005 at 7:31PM

More effective than the Protective Registration Service, offering an awful lot more for peanuts is:

The Simple Way to Foil Identity Theft.
http://www.techworld.com/security/features/index.cfm?featureid=1954

edwinjbernard · 14 December 2005 at 11:10AM

Glad I found this thread.

Like many Moneysavers, I have just moved over to the A&L. When I called their 0845 number(!) to register my debit card, I was surprised to hear that it sounded like A&L were going to offer me Identity Fraud Insurance as part of the package. Four and a half minutes into the conversation, that outlined how scary identity fraud was, and what they would do about it to protect me, I was asked: "And how much do you think a service like that would cost?....Just £4.99 a month, Sir, for peace of mind."

I replied, I didn't realise this was a sales pitch (at my expense!) and would do some further research into the concept.

I really resent A&L using their card registering service to "scare" people into taking out unnecessary insurance.

Thanks for the info above...very useful.

mr_fishbulb · 14 December 2005 at 1:00PM

James wrote:

The Simple Way to Foil Identity Theft.
http://www.techworld.com/security/features/index.cfm?featureid=1954

I'm not giving a fingerprint every time I use my card!

Do they also want a DNA sample from the inside of my mouth and a stool specimen? Maybe I could pull out one of my eyeballs and send it off to my bank so they can use it to check my retina scans?

macca64 · 14 December 2005 at 1:34PM

Was also offered this by A&L when I registered my debit card for my current account, which I only opened to get the 10% regular saver... £4.99 a month, easy money for the banks, as most people will be scared into taking it out, as they wont realise they are not liable for the fraud..

markyb_2 · 16 January 2006 at 5:37PM

I too, was offered this protection but at £49.99 for the year. The interesting thing, is that I am sure they told me that I would be liable for any identity theft and would have to pay for anything, plus legal fees etc, etc. Didn't take it in until reading this trying to do some research myself. Didn't take them up on their generous offer of course.

Gunderful · 6 April 2006 at 3:24PM

Hi,

Can you get insurance to protect you against identity fraud and if so what roughly does it cover?

Thanks.

Identity theft protection (merged)

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