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By Paul Ranger

I don’t know about you but, I’m annoyed when I get these so called credit protection offers from companies promising to alert me when there is unauthorized use of credit in my name. The offer sometimes come with a measly $5.00 check for me to deposit as a discount off the usually $70.00 per year fee, and, confirmation that I want to join their program.

What really annoys me is this; why should I have to pay extra for protecting something that the banks and retailers should be protecting in the first place? especially that, the protection offer are for alerts after the horse has left the barn. Who let the horse out in the first place? To alert me after the Identity theft has already taken place is no protection at all. This is only an alert that misery awaits me ahead. With all the high interest rates credit card companies charge, one would think they would be able to provide better protection, but, they want us, the public to pay. The stores are no better, instead of investing in better encryption methods, they would rather keep the cheaper older system. They want us to pay for it.

Perhaps it’s time for federal legislation to make them do the right thing….oops…the lobbyist for the industry would…can you see where I’m going? Read the story that got me started below…

Did stores hush up credit card scam?

Not all retailers told their customers when hackers swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers in the biggest such heist ever.

By The Wall Street Journal

Most states mandate that companies tell their customers when their credit card data is stolen from stores. The laws are designed to give consumers a chance to protect themselves against fraud or identity theft…Read more at: MSN Money,