American Consumer Horror Story: Americans Frightened Of Identity Theft

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly eight in 10 Americans (77%) are frightened of having their identity stolen, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report, including 23% who are very frightened. About half of Americans (46%) have either been a victim of identity theft or know someone who was, up 12 percentage points from 2008.

One in five Americans is not at all worried about having their identity stolen. 30-49 year-olds are the most nervous about identity theft, while millennials (18-29 year-olds) are the least concerned.

Many Americans aren't taking the necessary precautions to protect themselves from identity theft. 42% don't check their credit reports regularly and 41% conduct banking and other sensitive business on unsecured Wi-Fi networks that do not require a password.

"With news of a data hack nearly every week, consumers are doing themselves a disservice by not checking their credit reports regularly," said Bankrate.com analyst Janna Herron. "It's one of the easiest and most important steps to take and is free on sites like myBankrate.com."

In addition to free credit reports and scores (updated monthly), myBankrate.com also offers identity theft insurance worth up to $1 million. It guarantees reimbursement for expenses related to identity theft restoration such as replacement documents, fraudulent withdrawals and much more.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) and can be seen in its entirety here:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/identity-theft/money-pulse-1015.aspx

PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were conducted by landline phone (500) and cellphone (500, including 305 without a landline phone) in English by Princeton Data Source from October 1-4, 2015. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

About Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, Insweb.com, CreditCards.ca, and NetQuote.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 100 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

For more information:
Caroline Farhat
Senior Publicist, Bankrate, Inc.
caroline.farhat@bankrate.com
(917) 368-8638

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-consumer-horror-story-77-of-americans-frightened-of-identity-theft-300161522.html

SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.