If you are paying a monthly fee for fraud alerts or credit checks, you are paying for services that are available for free. At idCURE, we will never charge you a fee for a service that shouldn't cost you anything.

If you are a subscriber to LifeLock or any other service charging you a fee for fraud alerts or mailing list removal services, idLOCK is the place to start taking control of your credit yourself. idLOCK is a free, do-it-yourself process that puts you in charge of your credit and restricts access to your public information.

Here are the 3 steps you need to do this yourself:

STEP 1
A Fraud Alert, also known as a credit lock, can make it difficult for a thief to open a new credit account in your name. A Fraud Alert instructs any lending institution that issues credit to confirm through a "safe" phone number that you are in fact the person opening the new credit account. If a thief is behind the credit request you would simply tell the bank to deny the application. It is important to understand that banks are not required to make this call by law. Also remember that a Fraud Alert is only activated when a request for new credit is made. This is important because identity thieves often take over existing credit and bank accounts or gain employment in a victim's name, knowing a Fraud Alert will not come into play.

Even with these limitations, Fraud Alerts can help to minimize your exposure. A simple 1 minute call every 90 days to the just one of the three national credit reporting agencies is all it takes. As soon as one credit agency company processes your fraud alert, it will notify the other two. As a service to our customers, idCURE will remind you every 80 days that you need to update your Fraud Alert. Click Here to receive an automatic email reminder,or have your Outlook Calendar track the Fraud Alert renewals for you. We recommend that you add our idCURE signature recovery plan to any Fraud Alerts you place. If the Fraud Alert does help you stop a thief trying to open one new account, there will likely be other issues - employment data, medical information, and more - that need to be checked for theft. With the idCURE plan you will have a dedicated team of experts to resolve any issues on your behalf.

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian: 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289

STEP 2*
To get your credit report from all 3 credit bureaus free of charge, visit www.annualcreditreport.com. You have the right to receive annual reports from each of the three main credit agencies at least 1 time per year. Take note that the credit agencies will offer pay services throughout this process - you do not need to pay anything to get your credit report.

STEP 3
Check out www.dmachoice.org and www.optoutprescreen.com. This is your opportunity to opt out of "pre-approved" offers through the mail, along with many junk mail catalogs and offers.

Want more?
Sign up for our no-obligation email newsletter. You'll receive tips from consumer expert and advocate David Horowitz on how to protect yourself and your family from identity theft. When you've completed your idLOCK process, you've locked down your credit information. But the truth is, no amount of personal prevention can completely prevent the risk of identity theft. And no amount of money can repair the damage. That's why we're offering two free months of service when you sign up for a one-year service plan of idCURE, idMONITORING, or idBUNDLE. To read more about Experian's lawsuit against LifeLock, click here.

*Please be advised that idCURE provides a fully managed recovery for victims of identity theft. If you find errors on your credit report that do not pertain to an identity theft you will need to contact the credit bureaus directly. The free reports come with dispute forms that make this rather easy to do.