By: Aspen Morrow, CITRMS As a certified "ID Theft Expert", I get asked a lot about ID Theft Coverage these days. You know, like what you see on TV and hear advertised on the radio, like the guy who posts his Social in Times Square. But without being an expert, and with so few ID Theft insurance experts around, how do you pick, or should you even purchase coverage at all? Is it worth the monthly cost, and what will it really do if you are a victim, if anything? How do you pick a company, and how do you check up on them? Is it worth paying for monitoring? What are important features versus just unnecessary extras?  Here are some things to consider: Does it Cover ALL types of ID theft such as: Medical, Social Security, Driver's License, Criminal, Financial, and Synthetic ID Theft? The most important thingis to make sure it will fully Restore your IDfor youif you are a victim. There are many terms that try to masquerade here, beware of terms such as "resolution", "reimbursement", "help".  If it's not full restoration, it's like having a fire alarm in your house but no one will come put out the fire or rebuild your house.  It should include credit monitoring, but that should not be all it does. 3 Credit Bureau monitoring is important but not essential. Legal coverage is as important as the restoration. 80 percent of the time your Identity is stolen you will have a legal situation as well. And with attorneys charging 200 an hour, this can get costly. Prepaid legal plans are common place these days and one company even has attorneys in network who are familiarizing themselves specifically with ID theft law.  Legal issues that can arise from ID Theft include warrants, judgments, collection attempts, merchant lawsuits, and more. Who is behind the Restoration? Ok, this is a little tricky. What if it says "we will fully restore your ID back to pre-theft status"?. Well, there is a saying: "A good attorney knows the law, a great Attorney knows the Judge." Imagine for a second someone trying to fix a fraudulent warrant for your arrest...wouldn't it seem that you would need to know who to call with inside access? Wouldn't it be better if you were a member with organization that had been building rapport with government agencies such as the DMV, Social Security Administration, IRS, and others for more than 30 years? So, my research led me to a company with just such access. KROLL. If Kroll is not behind the restoration, then in my experience, the restoration is not as good.  Should You purchase at all? There are some things you can do to reduce your risk for free, such as placing a fraud alert if you suspect you might be a victim, opting out of junk mail at www.optoutprescreen.com, and shredding your mail. But I highly recommend purchasing protection, because even as an expert, I have been victimized twice, and you just can't avoid giving out your social to loan companies and doctor offices these days, and they are the ones who are sometimes not protecting our information.  Where to buy? I feel that the best coverage for the best price is offered through a private label from prepaid legal called ID Theft Shield, and their legal coverage is recommended with it. For 29.95 per family you can get the 3 bureau monitoring, a credit report with score, full restoration by Kroll, AND the legal rider by prepaid legal that will even include getting your WILL done. Our agency made this service available to our ID theft victims a few years ago and have been very pleased with everything they have done to help our clients when they needed the service. If you sign up through our site, a portion of the proceeds go to help our ID Theft victim aid fund.www.eyeonidtheft.com To buy or Not to buy?   I do recommend purchasing coverage, because it gives me the ability to detect identity theft across multiple sources, including, but not limited to, credit fraud. In other words, it allows me to monitor my digital identity for a very small investment as well as have a team of experts on hand if anything is accessed. Nothing can completely prevent ID Theft, but if you are a victim, licensed investigators will do the bulk of the work for you in restoring your identity to pre-theft status. This saves me time, money and gives me peace of mind: the required components to make a purchase decision. ...read more