Credit monitoring is an essential part of measuring the accuracy of your credit entries and keeping a healthy credit score. Various sources have estimated that up to 80% of consumer credit reports are inaccurate. The FACTA act of 2004 (Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act) makes it possible for consumers to get a free copy of their credit reports once a year from all three credit bureaus to provide an opportunity for consumers to dispute inaccuracies.

But, is credit monitoring enough to battle identity theft? Can this measure alone help you protect your identity properly? Credit monitoring services may insist that this is the best way prevent identity theft and although it is an important aspect of identity theft protection, it alone is not a comprehensive system for total protection against credit fraud or other types of identity theft.

Total Identity theft protection includes a lot more than credit monitoring, it’s safe to say that the two go hand and hand. Credit monitoring is a step within an identity theft protection plan or service, but it is not a plan by itself. Your credit report alone is not the only place where identity theft can be spotted, there are many other aspects about your identity, such as medial benefits, social security, your name and address change, online security, your mail etc. Identity theft can strike at any one of these fronts.

Disadvantages of credit monitoring?

Credit monitoring may cost you an average of $200 to $400 a year, for a service that will essentially track changes to your credit reports and detect credit fraud or the potential of it. Monitoring your own credit is something you can do on your own by placing fraud alerts on your credit reports with all three credit bureaus and inspecting your credit entries once every quarter. But for the busy individual of today this is time consuming and rather impractical.

This service will not be able to stop someone from using your social security number in other ways, such as opening utility accounts or phone and wireless accounts under your name. Credit monitoring alone can not protect your identity from medical benefits theft. Even though identity theft insurance is often included with this service, in the case of medical records and benefits, the consequences often can not be resolved with monetary assistance.

If you’re interested in going with credit monitoring services, you should know that you may be charged extra for the monitoring of your credit score, there may also be an allotted number of credit reports and score requests per membership year and any additional ones you request will cost you extra.

Some credit monitoring agencies may claim to offer total credit fraud protection but you need to know if they actually monitor all three credit bureaus or just one, also they may not monitor and review your credit as often as they advertise unless you actually request it. So it’s important to ask what they monitor, how often and from what sources.

Why complete identity theft protection is a better choice

As we aleady mentioned, Identity theft does not only include your credit, it can strike from any angle. You have to realize that your information is out there. Your name, address, and social security number are widely distributed around many different organizations, financial institutions, insurance companies, HR records, public records etc. These are the aspects that can be covered by a complete and sophisticated system of identity theft protection.

If you’re already considering outsourcing the monitoring of your personal information, then don’t hit the “buy” button yet. In order to protect your identity completely, you need to first assess your own identity. Where is your personal information now? Who has your information? Have you ever had a second thought about rendering your personal information, even when you had no choice?

Fraud is everywhere and that’s why your best alternative is to consider a system of identity protection with cutting edge technology that not only watches after your credit accounts, but monitors the thriving online financial black markets where thousands of credit card accounts, social security numbers and other personal information are traded.

When you become a subscriber of identity theft protection services you get not only the benefit listed above, but many other points of identity protection like:

• Renewable fraud alerts
• Removal of your name from junk mail lists and pre-approved credit offers
• Lost or Stolen wallet assistance
• Identity theft recovery assistance
• Monitoring of utility and phone accounts in your name
• Internet and PC security software
• An insurance policy at no extra cost

These and other features are offered with your subscription to identity theft protection services from Trusted ID, Life Lock and Identity Truth. All of which offer a much more affordable and comprehensive suite of security features than credit monitoring alone.