Identity Theft Insurance Policies

Identity theft statistics are very worrying for consumers, financial institutions and governments, as they have been rising sharply over the last five years and in 2008 alone nearly 10 million people were thought to have become victims of this type of crime in the US alone.  Identity theft can cause a lot of damage to the victim’s finances and good name, and it can cost both them and financial services a great deal of time and money to resolve the case.

The threat of identity theft is a very real issue for all consumers and most leading insurance companies are now offering dedicated identity theft insurance polices, which can help cover the costs if you do unfortunately become a victim of these crimes and give you and your family peace of mind.

Choosing an identity theft recovery policy

The important thing when choosing any insurance policy is not just to look at what the policy covers, but also what it does not cover as well, which are known as the restrictions or limitations.  This will help you to understand exactly how useful the policy is to your needs, and it is very important you check this carefully as identity theft insurance can costs you up to $100 a year, and this can be a significant drain on already stretched household budgets so you need to make sure it is worth it.  Here are just a few things you need to take into consideration when choosing an identity theft policy:

• Claim Limits – although many policies advertise that you will receive up to a certain amount (anything from $20,000 to $1 million) to cover the costs of identity theft, each individual claim with have its own limitations, so for example if you can claim for loss of earnings under your policy, it is typical for this to be restricted to a maximum of 4 weeks, or if you need to claim for travel expenses for trips involved in resolving your case this is usually limited to $1,000.  Make sure the claim limits are suitable for your lifestyle, and are not too restricting.
• Dependant Care – some policies will cover you for any dependant care costs involved in resolving your case, so if you do have any young children or dependent adults in your care this can be a useful feature to look out for in a policy.