Guys

I had a break-in on my storage unit I just found out about.  I may have had documents in my file cabinet that had personal information in them.  I really dont remember what all I had in the cabinet.  Anyway, now I'm worried that personal information may have been stolen.  Im going to the unit this afternoon to look through things.  

Have any of you used a credit/id theft monitoring service?  If so, which ones are legit and what do you recommend?

Thanks

Put blocks on your credit. Otherwise, you are only being notified AFTER someone has obtained credit.

Even with the blocks, some will sneak through (Victorias Secret and Montgomery Ward are very popular to slide through). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but these types of criminals horde personal information. They may wait and not use it for 2-3 years.

Lifelock is fine, but don't expect much. Even look at the ones put out by the big 3 credit reporting agencies. They have similar services. It does help with soft inquiries, as these folks attempt to use your information.

On the bright side, I would say less than 10% of stolen information is actually used. This is a guess, based on experience.

How do I put blocks on our credit?  How will that affect when we go to apply for a loan to build our house here soon?

What is the right website for getting a credit report?

Google fraud alert or security freeze for each of the three credit reporting agencies. You can set up a temporary freeze or a long term freeze. If you have your account frozen, you'll need to temporarily lift it when applying for credit. The agencies charge a few bucks for each freeze and thaw, but it's not very difficult.

 

Use annualcreditreport dot com to request 1 free bureau report every 3-4 months.  If you find a discrepancy, dispute it and notify the other 2 CRBs. I pull mine and wife's every quarter or so.

You could pay 9.99 a month for constant access to something like transunion if you were really bothered by it.  Check out truecredit dot com for more.  It's widespread nowadays and there really isn't much you can do about it after the fact so don't lose sleep.