Wanting to be educated in what I’m considering purchasing I found this informative and professional blog and want to thank financegirl for offering her perspective and views. I also appreciated Jeff’s comments, both posts have educated me on this arena of theft that is centered on evolving technology and it’s breaches.

As far as I am concerned, you really don’t know how a product is until you have to use it. Whether this product from Zander is acutally insurance or an administrative service, I for one wouldn’t have a clue if someone did steal my ID. I’m not cyberspace illiterate but I’m not savy enough to feel comfortable putting all the blocks in place to prevent or deter an ID thief either. Could I do it? I guess I could if I wanted to spend the time necessary, but why reinvent the wheel when someone has already knows? It’s like taking my car to a mechanic; even if I did know how to fix my car, the mechanic could do it in considerably less time.

IMHO, because I do have assets to protect, my life is busy enough with all the “stuff” we fill our schecules with and most of all, my time is valuable to me, I think the $6 a month is nothing compared to what it would cost me in time, aggravation and just plain stress. Even if Dave’s 600 hours is over inflated and it’s only 60 hours, at minimum wage in Washington State that is about $550. I’m worth more than that and simply don’t want to deal with it.

Everyone must weigh the cost benefit and I understand it will be different for everyone, but if you have assets and value your time, I really think this is a no brainer unless you have the talent, skills and knowledge of handling ID theft to a proficient level. I hope I never have to use the Zander insurance and I won’t be able to really assess how good they are unless I do have to use them, but it’s worth the $6 a month risk to me considering the alternative.

Thanks for all the previous posts, I did appreciate them.

Since taking time away from work to clean up the mess left behind after an ID theft is really what costs you money and stress, Zander is the winner here in my book.

I suppose I am taking a risk not to have identity theft insurance at this time, but I do what I can to try to prevent it and am confident that I have the ability to clean it up if it does occur.

I don’t think identity theft protection is a fundamentally bad product (at least not your company’s product), it’s just a monthly cost that people trying to get out of debt need to give serious consideration to before signing up. While it is my choice not to sign up, it may not be the appropriate choice for everyone. That said, I may be inclined to purchase identity theft protection in the future when I’m out of debt.

The focus of your concern is Dave quoting 600 hours as being the amount of time to recover from an Identity Theft and that being the reasoning for purchasing an ID Theft protection plan. Though the reference to this number is accurate it is a bit dated since it was part of a study in 2004 which is when we first started developing and offering our plan. I have referenced the link: (www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/m_facts/Facts_and_Statistics.shtml.) We periodically send Dave updates and have meetings to keep him abreast of any changes in the marketplace. If you can provide the source where your data is published I will certainly have it updated.

However, the numbers you reference from a recent study seem to offer just as a compelling reason to consider ID Theft Protection. Whether 600, 231 or 97 hours the amount of time it takes to clean up an ID Theft occurence is formidible and is very frustrating since most people do not have the knowledge, experience or background to deal with all the different entities involved. In addition, the landscape of ID Theft has changed greatly in just the past few years whereby credit related issues are not the only risks people need to be concerned with. As reported by the FTC, one quarter of their complaints are now coming from IRS events and fraudulent returns related to ID Theft. In addition, Medical ID Theft, employment related uses, and Social Security fraud issues are all now fertile territory for ID Thieves.

You question why Dave would recommend a plan for $72 when they are trying to get out of debt and the event has not occurred yet. I know that he feels that certain types of insurance and other protection plans are a waste of money as evidenced by his discontent for cancer plans, cash value type life insurance, critical illness plans, etc. He does however feel that some risk transfer/insurance programs are warranted based on the pricing and benefit offered. That is why he recommends term life insurance, disability, health insurance, long term care and ID Theft Protection…under certain specific terms.

There are many ID Theft protection plans available and as you noted most of them do not offer much of a benefit to their clients. However, the article you reference “Is Identity Theft Insurance Worth the Cost?, at Fabulous Financials,” is severely flawed in its reasoning. A more appropriate commentary would be a recent review by Kiplinger’s titled “Paying for ID Theft Protection Is Not Necessary” details the limited protection most plans offer. It also states that any plan that has value offers restoration services that covers all types of ID Theft including those I mentioned previously. This is why Dave recommends our plan.

The idea that any plan can prevent ID Theft is a fallacy. Your statement that Dave should spend his time teaching people how not to become a victim is an indication of the idea that many people have, that somehow through personal action you can eliminate the risk. There certainly are steps people can take to help reduce their risk which is why we provide helpful links and explanations of how to use free consumer services that are available to all. Most other plans charge a fee to do what people can do for themselves at no charge. However, the growth of data breaches and especially those that are intentional such as TJ Maxx and the recent NY Hospital records clerk selling 50,000 records indicate the lack of ability someone has in controlling their personal data.

Dave recommends our plan because it addresses the total scope of ID Theft whether credit, employment, benefit, social security, etc. related and because our restoration services are fully managed for the the client eliminating greatly the time, effort and frustration they experieince. And yes, we do pay him an advertising fee but there are no commissions or revenue sharing. In addition, he was adamant that the cost be at the level it was since that was part of his cost-benefit analysis. It is between 30-75% less expensive than other plans not offering any type of restoration assistance. In addition, we were not the first company to approach him for advertising. He turned down several other companies whose plans had limited focus and higher costs.

I realize that this is a long winded commentary to your blog and I understand you may not choose to post it. However, I wanted to give you our perspective and am more than happy to answer any questions that may come up in the future.