Opinion: Companies, Consumers Need Identity Theft Insurance

I am personally very concerned about this problem but, until recently, have not been able to identify a service that could provide companies theft recovery benefit services. On a personal level I subscribe to a credit protection service but it only insures that I will be alerted of a problem more quickly. I am still very concerned about the 600 or so hours it will take to correct things once I realize my identity has been stolen.

I also use a special credit card for online purchases to limit the risk factor, but with all of the information leaking from various otherwise trusted entities I’m well aware it's just the starting point of things a company can aggregate and provide to employees.

However, I recently did discover a company called Intelius. This firm is the only one I have found that not only provides $25,000 in identity theft insurance, but also provides a tool that will identify the theft while in progress and, potentially, prevent subscribers from being a victim. Intelius also provides, as part of the insurance benefit, a dedicated resource to help clients correct the problem if the theft takes place.

With volume pricing for a corporation expected to be below $5 a month per employee, and with over 10 million identity thefts at an estimated $5 billion dollars in consumer cost per year, the benefit services seems like a deal too good for companies to pass up.

If you are an employer, don’t you owe it to your employees to at least look into this? If you aren’t you may want to consider the issue of personal disaster because at the numbers and growth rate you’ll likely experience this problem or someone you know will and it’s always better to be prepared.