Identity Theft Protection: Have You Safeguarded Yourself?

You’ve read a lot about it, but make no mistake: identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America. Depending on which report you choose to read, between 41 million and 44 million Americans have been victims—that’s around 1 out of every 5 adults. Estimates indicate thieves steal more than $43 billion (yes, with a B) using stolen identities. According to the Insurance Information Institute, of the 2.7 million identity theft and fraud reports received just in 2017, 1.1 million were fraud-related, costing consumers almost $905 million. The median amount consumers paid in these cases was $429. These numbers have increased dramatically over the last few years. According to the Federal Trade Commission 5.2 million reports were filed in 2022 with 2.4 million being fraud reports. That is over a million more reports compared to 2017! 

We could throw numbers at you all day to try to discuss the scope of the problem, but Arbor Financial wants to help. IDProtect® is an additional enhancement of your Arbor Financial checking account that offers the services of Fraud Detection and Total Identity Monitoring. Every three seconds, another American becomes a victim of identity fraud* and the damage can take months—and in some cases, even years--to repair. And children aren’t exempt from it either; in fact, a child’s compromised identity can go undetected for years and wreak all sorts of havoc when it comes time for the child to start making financially independent choices.

Thankfully for consumers, there are many companies that provide identity theft protection. And by comparison, they’re not much different in the services they provide:

• Fraud detection

• Credit Card Monitoring

• Triple Bureau Credit Monitoring & Reports

• Credit Score

• Identity Theft Insurance

• Lost wages

• Recovery

• Public Records and Address monitoring

• Lost Wallet Protection

• Children/family coverage

But we’re committed to offering the best to our members at Arbor Financial, and with that in mind, here’s how IDProtect® is different than the other identity theft protection services.

Cost & Coverage
You’ll pay anywhere from $8.99 to $29.99 per month for comparable industry leading products. If you want to add your children, plan on adding another $3 - $6 per child. With IDProtect, Arbor Financial members pay just $3 per month for their entire household – that includes spouses, domestic partners, children under 25 years of age, and parents residing in your household.

Members can access all of the benefits and protection of IDProtect, including credit scores and reports, by logging on to IDProtectMe247.com and using your access code to register your family members and accounts. You can even register non-Arbor cards for monitoring and protection.

Need an access code, or previously opted out of IDProtect and have changed your mind? Give our contact center a call at 269.375.6702.

Learn more about ID Protect by clicking here.