Personal identity theft has become a lot more newsworthy lately. Some experts say that it’s receiving much more attention than it should. It has become so common in the news that there is now an insurance to cover it called personal identity insurance.
What Personal Identity Theft Insurance Covers
Personal identity theft insurance typically costs $25 to $50 per year and covers up to a total of $15,000 to $25,000 worth of expenses. It covers some lost wages that result from of time that must be taken off work to deal with fraud. Coverage for this benefit usually does not exceed $500 per week and is generally limited to four weeks of total coverage. Some attorney’s fees may be covered by this insurance.
Some personal identity theft insurance coverage may extend to notary and certified mailing costs for filling out and delivering fraud affidavits to the parties involved. Fees for reapplying for loans and credit cards that were turned down due to erroneous credit information are usually covered to a certain extent by this type of insurance.
Any long distance charges to banks etc. to discuss the fraud can also be covered.
This may seem like a good deal for the money but keep in mind a few things. Identity theft is very unlikely. The chances of being victimized are only about 0.35%. Chances are it will never happen to you.
Secondly, although the coverage from personal identity theft insurance may seem to be extensive, when broken down into its parts it is really not very beneficial. For example, although the lost wage coverage sounds good, it is only $500 per week (less than what many people would need to replace) and it does not take into account the fact that many people would not be able to take that much time off of their jobs.
Personal identity theft coverage does not actually fix your credit or criminal record, which is what auto or home owner’s insurance would do. Instead it only helps to pay for the expenses associated with fixing it yourself. Generally, these expenses do not warrant the cost to pay for this policy, as with most cases they do not exceed $1,000.