Experian today announced that a federal court in California denied a motion by LifeLock Inc. to reconsider the court's prior ruling which found that LifeLock's practice of setting 90-day fraud alerts for consumers with the three main credit bureaus is unlawful.
Experian filed the lawsuit in 2008 alleging that LifeLock activities were contrary to certain provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Experian has requested a permanent injunction, for which a decision is pending.
"Experian is pleased the court continues to recognize the unfair business practices of LifeLock which Experian believes has resulted in a false sense of security and unnecessary costs to consumers," said Kerry Williams, Group President, Experian Credit Services and Decision Analytics. "Experian will continually seek to ensure that consumers understand their rights and opportunities regarding their credit histories and have access to a variety of services to help protect their personal information."
The Experian group of companies has been safeguarding consumer credit data for decades and is a trusted provider of both free and fee-based services for consumers to protect and monitor their credit information and ensure their personal data is not compromised. More than 9 million consumers benefit from the companies' credit monitoring services, which is the most widely used for data breach protection.
"Identity theft continues to be a threat to consumers," said Williams. "We encourage consumers to take an active approach to their personal information and, as such, Experian companies offer the ability to place free fraud alerts, dispute issues and subscribe to services such as ProtectMyID.com(TM)."
Credit reporting companies like Experian are uniquely positioned to protect the consumer's credit information. Consumers have trusted ProtectMyID.com since it was introduced more than a year ago to safeguard their identities. ProtectMyID.com is an identity theft detection, protection and fraud resolution product used by consumers to prevent damages caused by identity theft. It monitors Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports on a daily basis to see if key information has changed, if new data has been added to a member's credit profile, or if personally identifiable information is detected that could indicate fraud or suspicious activity.