Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security Number (SSN), or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The FTC estimates that as many as 9 million Americans experience some form of identity theft each year.

The crime takes many forms. Identity thieves may rent an apartment, obtain a credit card, or establish a telephone account in your name.

There are many different versions of credit monitoring. Be aware that every company tries to persuade you that their service is much better and different than anything else out there.

The reality is that all of them are very similar and offer the same types of popular features. The most common features include:

If you become a victim of identity theft there is going to be a lot of hassle and even money involved. As a result, we recommend credit monitoring as the best way to get identity theft protection.

At the same time, the risk of becoming an identity theft victim is fairly low (below 5%), and thus, if you do not want to spend the money for a credit monitoring service, here are a few tips from the FTC that you can do yourself, for free:

Credit monitoring services track your credit file every day and alert you whenever there is a change. Occasionally, they will also tell you your most recent credit score. Credit monitoring services offer two primary benefits.

The first (and most important) benefit offered by credit-monitoring services is that they help you prevent identity theft. Identity thieves operate by opening credit accounts under other people’s names. Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.