Considering over 10 Million Americans each year are victims of identity theft, it’s no wonder identity protection is a growing industry.

But what exactly do these services offer and do you really need to pay them each month for the rest of your life to protect your identity?

Most identity protection services are little more than credit monitoring services.  Since credit monitoring is done on a frequency basis (like monthly), it justifies their monthly fees.

However, it’s important to understand that credit monitoring is a reactive approach to protecting your identity and credit report.  Which means these services notify you AFTER your account has been accessed by unauthorized persons.  It does not however prevent your identity from being used in the first place.

Most consumers are unaware that there is a method to prevent your credit and identity from being used BEFORE it is accessed by identity thieves.   But since this action is needed to be performed just once, companies that actually utilize this method can not and do not charge monthly fees, instead you pay just a small fee once to be protected forever.

Both these methods are designed to offer identity protection.  While credit report monitoring services like Life Lock, True Credit, and those offered directly by credit bureaus like Equifax and Experian are reactionary services and only work after the theft has occurred. Credit locking services like Credit-Sentry is a preventative measure.

To illustrate the difference between the two methods.  Credit monitoring services basically is like leaving the front door to your home wide open and getting notified after the thief steals your belongings, while a credit locking service replaces your doors and windows with a brick wall and only allows entry to those you choose to enter your home.