Identity Theft Insurance Yes/No - Is It Necessary?

md58

Can anyone please help me? I have just come off the phone with Alliance and Leicester to activate my debit cards on new account. A&L operator gave hard sell for card protection services at £29 for one year or a bargain price of £70 for three years and then moved onto a hard sell for Identity Theft Insurance of £49.99 per year each for my husband and I. Didn't know this type of insurance existed. Have refused to take this insurance but am worried I should have. Is it common place nowadays for everyone to have this kind of insurance. This activation call could have cost me £170!! Any advice would be very welcome. Thank you.

LittleVoice

You did absolutely the right thing. If you do want any insurance find the cheapest which meets your needs.

I think ID theft insurance is a waste of money. I don't know what they meant by "card protection services". Did they explain?

Oscar_The_Grouch

I agree. ID theft insurance is a cover given away free by some insurers within their high level policies and is certainly available for less than £50 a year.

ID Theft, card protection insurance and PPI cover works a bit backwards. Basically, the insurer agrees a net rate with the bank or building society; this is the amount of money that they want to charge for the insurance to cover expected claims and their own profits. The bank then tell the insurer how much money they want to earn per policy. The insurer adds this in to the price and you pay tax on the lot. The net result is that of that £50 you were going to be charged, about £10 would have gone to the sales agent, £25 to the bank, £12.50 to the insurer and £2.50 to the tax man.

It's all a big con really.

bigbloke45

Card Protection Service is where you give a company details of all of your credit/debit cards and, if you lose one or more you tell them and they contact your card issuer(s) for you.

But, for nothing you can write a little spreadsheet with all the details on it (you can disguise details etc). Then , if you lose or more you 'phone them yourself. You can also put in credit limits, end of any speacial deals (eg interest free credit etc.)

I've had my own for years and it works fine.

Alliance and Leicester are to become part of the Santander empire which includes Abbey......

missile

xcharlies_mummyx wrote: »

I work for an identity theft protection service

well no big surprise there then :rolleyes:

dunstonh

Statiscally you are more likely to die before retirement than suffer identify fraud. You are more likely to suffer a critical illness before 65, you are more likely to make retirement and need a pension.

If you insured yourself for everything you wouldnt have a penny left to live in. So, usually that means picking the things which are more likely. I would concentrate on the more important things and not these cash cows.

LittleVoice

xcharlies_mummyx wrote: »

...Its one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK and was estimated to affect one in 3 people in the near future (quote from end of 2007!). . . . . and in the eyes of the law its the company that the credit was taken out from that is the victom not you.

Growth is normally looked at on a percentage basis not the number of cases. So if, in the whole of the UK, there was one case in 2006 and 3 cases in 2007, that would give you a 200% increase. If a third of the population were to become "victims" in the near future, there would have to be a lot of irresponsible lenders out there.

Then they should be the ones taking out insurance.

dunstonh

xcharlies_mummyx wrote: »

Alright everyone i feel like you are all jumping on me a bit i was simply giving some facts, information and a bit of advice. I'm not at work now so im not trying to sell it to you...won't get commission advising people about it here! No worries i wont mention it again.

Dont let it get to you. Nothing posted on this thread is personal. You should see the abuse I get from time to time for being an IFA. Some people just decide to have a go because of occupation.

That said, I am still against the insurance

md58

xcharlies_mummyx wrote: »

Alright everyone i feel like you are all jumping on me a bit i was simply giving some facts, information and a bit of advice. I'm not at work now so im not trying to sell it to you...won't get commission advising people about it here! No worries i wont mention it again.[Please don't get upset about others opinions. I value all that has been said and it is good to get all opinions. Thank you.]

*MF*

I thought it might help if I also added this link:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1062105

It relates to a thread - elsewhere on this forum - where a member was faced with an actual incidence of apparent identity theft - and the steps they took in the absence of any insurance - of specific importance perhaps are the links to cifas and the Home Office.

stoke_bishop

xcharlies_mummyx wrote: »

I must say guys i have to disagree!! I work for an identity theft protection service and hear from plenty of victims...Identity theft is mis understood and a lot of people make the assumption that it is a waste of money its actually not...Its one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK and was estimated to affect one in 3 people in the near future (quote from end of 2007!). And the worst thing is you dont even know its happening until you get the baliffs on your door! The police have no obligation to help you, unless you have specific protection with your bank they can't protect you and in the eyes of the law its the company that the credit was taken out from that is the victom not you. However if you do have a identity theft protection you get your credit reports so you can see from them! I would reccommend looking around make sure you get one with unlimited credit reports, alerts and monitoring (by experian they have 80% coverage of the uks financial marketplace) fraud resoloution team, and at least £10,000 insurance (its estimated to cost around £8,000 in out of pocket expenses to clear your name!) Anyway i hope this helps! Jess

I'd appreciate you clarifying this a little. I'm not here to jump on you.
(1) WHere's this 1 in 3 source from? I had some guy trying to sell it me yesterday and he said 1 in 10. So many differences in statistics quoted it on this sibject it would appear
(2) The baliffs would only come knocking on my door IF the indebted card was registered to my address in my name. Otherwise, they would be going elsewhere not my door. I think I would have already opened the countless warnings prior to the baliffs coming frankly and would have sorted it out long before they came.
It almost sounds like your quoting from a sales script. This is what the guy said to me yesterday, along with *buy this cos otherwise you might end up with a stiff jail term* (*paraphrased)...

I am grateful for your response if a little skeptical....