THE PROGRAMS — Financial companies are adding new programs to help customers recover their stolen identities, responding to the millions of fraud cases so far and consumers' fears that they could be next.
The programs - offered by credit-card, insurance and other companies - have cropped up in the past two years, coinciding with heightened public awareness of identity theft. Credit-card giant Citibank, for example, launched a free service for its customers in 2003 to combat identity theft. It has been promoting the program through a series of television advertisements where victims speak in the voice of their identity thief.
The goal of these services is to help victims navigate the process of contacting creditors, credit bureaus and authorities so they can get their financial life back in order. Some programs offer more hand-holding than others, making follow-up calls with customers and monitoring credit reports for suspicious activity.
"Identity theft management is a growing industry. We are at the beginning of the curve," said Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a San Diego nonprofit that researches privacy issues. Financial institutions are smart to offer such services for free to customers, she added. "It saves them money by reducing fraud, and identity theft [assistance] is a good customer relationship opportunity."
The Federal Trade Commission released a widely publicized report two years ago that said 27.3 million Americans had been victims of identity theft in the previous five years, with 9.9 million of those cases occurring in 2002 alone. Companies lost nearly $48 billion to identity theft in 2002, and victims paid $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses, the FTC said.
Insurance giant MetLife added an identity theft service in June to all its policies for renters, condominium-owners and homeowners at no extra cost to customers. ID theft victims can get one-on-one assistance with contacting credit bureaus, placing fraud alerts, dealing with creditors and police, preparing needed documents and other steps necessary to recover their identity.
Early customer survey results show an uptick in loyalty to MetLife and its products because of the ID theft program, said Matt Cullina, product development manager of MetLife Auto & Home in Warwick, R.I.
Citi's Identity Theft Solutions is based in the card company's sprawling processing center in Hagerstown.
