Why is the Early Alert™ System Better?

• Early Alert™ watches 1,500 sources.
  Credit monitoring watches 1 source at a time.
• Early Alert™ uses a sophisticated algorithm.
  Credit monitoring has a 70% error rate.
• Early Alert™ uses all 3 National Credit Bureaus.
  Credit monitoring watches 1 source at a time.
• Early Alert™ is passive for the consumer.
  Credit monitoring requires work by the consumer.
• Early Alert™ is about ID theft protection.
  Credit monitoring is about credit.
• Early Alert™ warns about possible theft.
  Credit monitoring reports after it's too late.
• Early Alert™ addresses non-financial uses of ID theft.
  Credit monitoring can't address non-financial issues.

Compare Protect Your ID with Credit Monitoring

Protect Your ID & Early Alert™	Credit Monitoring
Developed for ID theft prevention	Developed for financial institutions
1,500 data sources	1 data source
Catches financial and non-financial theft	Only catches financial theft
Before-the-fact notification	After-the-fact notification
Requires no work from the consumer	Requires work from the consumer
Low error rate	High error rate
Empowers the consumer	Empowers financial institutions

Other Problems with Other Methods

Credit Freeze

The consumer contacts all 3 credit bureaus and "freezes" the release of credit information. The problems with this identity theft protection method?

• Does not address non-financial identity theft
• Elimates credit access in an emergency
• Costly
• Requires considerable work by consumer to freeze and un-freeze
• Only available in 5 states, with only 5 additional states currently planned

Changing Social Security Numbers

The consumer obtains a new Social Security Number from the federal government. The problems with this identity theft protection method?

• Obtaining credit becomes difficult
• Eliminates credit history
• Creates confusion with lenders
• Lenghty and difficult process. Only 1,000 changes were authorized in 2004
• Requires that the consumer inform credit bureaus and prove that the new number is really the individual

Fraud Alerts

The consumer requests that an "alert" be placed at the credit bureau level which informs creditors of the need to scrutinize the credit report and lending decision more closely. The problems with this identity theft protection method?

• Creditors are not required to check or abide by alerts
• Does not address non-financial identity theft
• Lenders view these alerts as negative
• Only good for 90 days
• Requires work by the consumer

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