A lot of people are selling security these days. Not for your home, but for your credit report. The question is, do you need this service?

Maybe not.

Yes, I know identity theft is rampant and that it snared more than 8 million people last year. But that’s a business opportunity for, guess who? The very credit bureaus that have a lot of the information you want to protect.

The credit bureaus and several outside competitors sell a credit-monitoring service that will alert you to any big events involving your credit report. Such as someone applying for credit in your name.

Useful? Sure. But at prices that can top $100 a year, I wonder what price you should pay to allay your fears.

Here’s my much cheaper (free, actually) do-it-yourself way to keep a close eye on your credit report:

If you have a reason to suspect identity theft, put a fraud alert on your account. This is supposed to get you the same kind of instant notice when someone pries into your report. I say “supposed to” because it’s not a perfect system. Every request for credit should set off the alarm, but you may not get the message right away (Say you’re on vacation). And, an alert is after the fact. You can know somebody’s nosing around in your report, but it doesn’t stop them from trying. You have to renew fraud alerts, because they expire periodically.

If you are certain that the thieves have arrived, put a freeze on your credit report. This will absolutely lock down your credit and prevent anyone from using it. Many states allow this for a nominal fee or offer it free to senior citizens.

Sure, if you want to take out new credit, you’ll have to unfreeze your account and that might take a few days. But you can’t plan ahead?

I fear that if you fork over the money for someone else to watch over your credit report, you’ll think you’ve done it all. You won’t continue to do what you need to do. That is, watch your bills for any wacky activity. Shred those credit card offers. Get suspicious if any regular bill doesn’t arrive when you expect it. File a police report when you loose your wallet.

All are cost-free precautions.

All require some effort on your part. But I think attention is really part of the cure to the identity theft problem.

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