You better be who you say you are
Thu Jun 25, 2009 | | Posted in Data Security
Are you who you say you are? You better be unless others say they are who you say you are. Did I say that right?
Just like a credit score, there is a new score that has come to surface over the last couple of years. It’s called ID score. When you say “Put it on my tab”, the establishment looks at your ID score to check if you are who you say you are.
If you are not familiar with this type of rating, it’s increasingly being used by everyone from car dealers and banks to utilities and wireless service providers. Much as a credit score attempts to put a number on how good someone is at paying their bills, an identity score measures the risk that a consumer isn’t who they say they are.
As a consequence, an entire new industry has been created that keeps a tab on your identity, in turn, creating businesses that sell ID scores to financial and other institutions. Simply put, you just can’t leave home without it.
Whether justly or not, a bad identity score is likely to create a number of issues for consumers. It creates some inconvenience of having to answer some annoying questions when applying for credit. It may also slow down the process when you make important purchases or bank transfers or put on hold for a matter of days while thorough ID verification takes place.
While the market for credit scores is huge, ID scoring is becoming a fast-growing field. Players include:
- FICO, which offers its Falcon product for scoring credit-card transactions;
- Experian‘s Precise ID, which is used to determine the fraud risk of new account applications; and
- ID Analytics‘s ID score, which is sold to companies directly and through partnerships with credit bureaus Equifax and TransUnion.
It’s an industry estimated at $1 billion a year – just from the credit-card issuers alone, according to Brian Riley, research director at financial services research firm TowerGroup.
In a Nutshell
Protect your identity even at home. My mother once almost didn’t recognize me because my ID score was too low. She said “Do you know who you are? You are your father’s son. That’s who you are and don’t you forget that.” I don’t know where she heard about ID score. Once she said “Where are you going with that low ID score? Nobody would recognize you unless you keep your chin and your ID score up.”
Listen to your mother. We have been screwed enough. Don’t screw it for yourself. Protect your Id.
What do you think?
You might also like...
- A credit score provides a “snapshot” of your credit risk
- Take these 3 steps to protect your identity
- Want to build your credit history? You have options
- Beware of ID theft and financial scams
- Does it make sense to pay for ID theft protection?
Information contained herein is general in nature, and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Talk to your financial adviser.
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