June 20, 2007
Contact: Scott Charton
Office: (573) 882-9724
Cell: (573) 864-9672
Email: chartons@umsystem.edu
With Internet crimes and the possibility of identify theft on the rise, the University of Missouri will offer a credit monitoring benefit to all University faculty, staff, retirees and students at a discounted cost.
The benefit is a negotiated lower price for individual enrollment in Experian Consumer DirectSM Triple Alert. The service provides daily monitoring of all three major credit reporting agencies. It also sends e-mail alerts if there are key changes to credit activity; provides $10,000 of identity theft insurance; provides monthly all-clear notifications, informative credit-related articles and toll-free customer service; and assists with fraud resolution, understanding credit reports and alerts, and contacting financial institutions and creditors as required.
Identify theft can be a concern for everyone with personal information to protect, said Ken Hutchinson, UM Vice President for Human Resources. The University experienced its own security breach in May when a UM database was attacked by an unknown computer hacker. The database contained the names and Social Security numbers of current or former University employees. The University has received no confirmed reports of identity theft arising from the recent security breach.
"We are pleased to offer this new benefit to the University family," Hutchinson said. "Even as the University takes internal security steps to help prevent a future breach, this benefit, if employees choose to enroll, will help provide additional protection from identity theft that can arise in everyday life beyond the workplace."
After negotiations with several companies, the University chose Experian because they offered the best value for the type of services they offered. The benefit is optional and will cost $3.46 per month for participants, who may enroll online at their own discretion. The University has received nothing from Experian for negotiating this lower-rate package.
For more information about the identify theft and credit monitoring benefit, visit the University of Missouri's FAQ page at http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/departments/hr/benefits/credit.shtml.