| I think you are, to some extent, making the cost look smaller than it is. Lets assume that someone gets enough of your info to take a loan out in your name. You can _probably_ (but not definitely) get that loan invalidated. However, to get back where you started, you may need to - Convince the loaner that it was not you, which could cost many hours on the phone - Get the credit impacts removed from your credit report, which could take many hours on the phone and web sites - Retain a lawyer for dealing with the loaner - Pay for any externalities in the process (mailing things registered, etc) The above things can add up to days or even weeks of real, physical time; time which should be valued at no less than whatever you actually earn per hour. Plus the money for the lawyer. And then, on top of that, it's widely considered that going through that process, where nearly everyone involved is incentivized to treat you as a lying thief and/or ignore you, can be fairly traumatic. The cost is tremendous, and the emotional impacts can last for a long time. |