Industry of Ignorance or Greed?

I have stated in my book as well as my lectures and seminars that in my opinion identity theft “insurance” or a “monitoring service” that is proactive as well as reactive will be a must in everyone’s insurance portfolio within three to five years.

You do not have to like this, it is a matter of necessity.

Ask yourself, when is the last time you have made a claim under your auto insurance? What about your home owners insurance? Then why do most of you carry it? It is the same reason you will start to carry identity theft insurance.

The problem with insurance products on the market today is they are not robust enough. Until someone starts to listen to the masses and builds a product for the good of the people instead of for corporate greed the individual will continue to lose.

I am convinced the insurance industry is to lazy and greedy to do the research needed to build a product that will have some real teeth. I am also convinced that the congress is to lazy, greedy and worried about being re-elected to make any "real" changes to the law that, god forbid, is on the side of the public instead of "corporate america." I want to assure the insurance industry, if you get your head out of the sand and realize what opportunity you have in front of you there is a lot of money to be made, while truly fulfilling your client's needs.

In a meeting, roughly one year ago, I attended with a large company that provides an identity theft protection product, I voiced my concern with their product and the lack of “true” proactive coverage and the false sense of security the consumer was getting from it. The answer I received from their managers was flabbergasting. They said their product was … (Another Post for another Time) Even I was shocked.

This is not a local, state, regional, or national issue, this is a global issue that can and will cause financial destruction on a global scale. This global issue will soon become an epidemic if unchecked as the below article from South Africa demonstrates.

In an article written by Nabelah Adams on 15 March 2007 for BusinessOwner.Co.ZA, Nabelah quotes Caroline Buthelezi of the Credit Information Ombud’s Office of South Africa as stating, “Clearing one’s name involves a great deal of effort as many people only discover the consequences of not reporting their ID book stolen when the credit bureau has already handed the matter over to their lawyers.”

“The consequences of ID theft might be even more exacerbated by the fact that attempts to have matters resolved are complicated by having to deal with attorneys,” Buthelezi says. This is of course if you can afford to hire an attorney.

© 2007 Michael R. McCoy