i'm not really sure they are. what do they actually do that i can't do on my own? i can call into the credit bureaus a fraud alert every 3 months without them. do they really do anything that "protects" anyone? thanks in advance.
Best thing to do is to freeze your credit reports and then only unfreeze the report needed that the institution will pull when you apply for a line of credit/loan. Freezing your reports will stop anyone from who you don't do business with currently from pulling your reports. Wealth of info on this form http://creditboards.com/forums/