Sign up for FREE Equifax Credit Alerts (from SD). To sign up, you don’t need to have a PayPal account, but to read the FAQ, you’ll have to log in. I know, it’s weird.
What is Equifax Credit Alerts for PayPal?
Equifax Credit Alerts is a program that helps you protect yourself from identity theft. By signing up to receive Equifax Credit Alerts, you are notified when someone opens a financial account in your name or when a significant change occurs on one of your existing financial/credit accounts. Please note that this program provides you with alerts for financial and credit accounts that you hold outside of PayPal (for example, bank account, credit card account).
This program also provides you with a free Identity Protection hotline if you believe your identity has been stolen.
How does Equifax know if someone is opening an account in my name?
Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus that financial institutions check with before approving a new financial or credit account. Since these credit bureaus maintain financial information, many companies look to Equifax for an indication of overall creditworthiness before approving a new account or a line of credit. Therefore, when someone tries to open an account in your name, Equifax is in a unique position to give you an early warning, enabling you to protect yourself.
Why is it important to sign up for the Equifax Credit Alerts program?
Millions of people have their identity stolen every year, costing time and money for the victim.
Data shows that the longer a fraudster has an account open in your name, the more financial damage is done and the longer it takes you to repair your identity.
The Equifax Credit Alerts program provides you with an early warning alert to prevent damage.
Is there a cost associated with signing up for Equifax Credit Alerts?
This service is free to PayPal users.
How will Equifax inform me if someone has opened an account in my name?
You will receive alerts by email.
You will also receive a monthly email notifying you of no activity.
To help you protect yourself from phishing emails, the Equifax Credit Alerts emails do not contain links. If you receive an alert email that contains links or asks for your personal or financial information, the email is fraudulent. We strongly recommend deleting it. You can also report it to us by forwarding the email to spoof@paypal.com
Does Equifax offer additional identity protection services?
Yes, Equifax’s Credit Watch product features ongoing credit monitoring and alerts from all the major credit bureaus.
Where do I sign up for the program? Where can I set my preferences?
You can sign up for the program and set your preferences on the Equifax site.
Once I sign up, how long will I receive the Equifax Credit Alerts for PayPal Users program?
This program benefit is the result of a partnership between PayPal and Equifax. While there is no planned end date to the program, Equifax and PayPal reserve the right to terminate the program at any time. If this program is terminated, PayPal users will still receive the program benefits for a minimum of 180 days.
From their control panel, it seems you can also set to receive alerts when a charge card balance increases over by $x or y%. The defaults are $200 and 25%, but I’m not exactly sure if that means it’s $200 over your normal usage? or a $200 purchase would trigger that. Same with the %. If my current balance is $0, does that mean any transaction would trigger the 25%?
It’s also neat that you can receive alerts on your mobile phone.
Oh yah, don’t forget to get your free annual credit reports too!
Also note, that PayPal is giving random prizes if you activate PayPal Mobile. Initial response said everyone was getting at least $5 ($5-$1000 prizes), but I guess that was to lure people to activate their PayPal Mobile. The later group (including myself) didn’t win anything. The also have a list of supported mobile service providers. Unfortunately Cingular isn’t one of them, but who cares about Cingular right, when you have T-Mobile.