Why You Shouldn’t Bother With Personal Identity Theft Insurance

Personal identity theft has become a media favorite over the last several years. In fact, it has received perhaps more media attention than it deserves according to some experts. Personal identity theft has become so prevalent in the news and in the consumer mind that a new type of insurance has actually arisen from it. This type of insurance is known as personal identity theft insurance.

What Does It Cover?

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.

Long distance bills for calling banks and other merchants and law enforcement agents 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 doesn’t fix your credit or criminal record as home or auto insurance might do. It strictly helps with the expenses so you can fix it on your own. The expenses entailed generally don’t surmount $1,000 so you may find that purchasing a policy is of no benefit.