When Mikol Sesker was providing financial planning services in the Chicago area, she realized how important credit scores were to her clients’ financial health. In many cases, credit report errors led to lower scores and higher interest rates for loans.

Sesker, a Norwalk native who returned to Central Iowa five years ago, has spent the past two years building an online identity management and protection business, IdentityIQ (www.IDIQ.com). This month, she’s launching a free version of the service that will be marketed nationwide.

“It’s important for people to know that they can take action, that they can effectively manage their information and protect themselves from the identity-theft side,” she said. The program sends an email alert whenever there is a change in a person’s credit file; users can then log on to view the change.

In addition to its free service, IdentityIQ offers a menu of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection services that range in cost from $4.99 to $29.99 a month. The premium service includes features such as $1 million in identity-theft insurance coverage and an online tool that enables users to determine how various actions would affect their credit scores.

A University of Northern Iowa graduate, Sesker earned a finance degree in 1997. After returning to Iowa in 2006, she started a financial planning practice in Knoxville. Sesker said IdentityIQ is financed primarily by out-of-state investors.

Sesker is also seeking partnerships with nonprofit organizations and businesses to offer IdentityIQ’s paid services as a membership or employee benefit. Its largest client to date is the Iowa State University Alumni Association.

“This product ends up being something they can offer for their members, and a portion of the proceeds go to support the programs they offer,” Sesker said.

Another local partner is CreditWise LLC, a West Des Moines-based credit management and education company that provides “credit wellness seminars” as an employee benefit for corporate clients.

“It’s a good tool to help employees manage their credit after they’ve taken the class,” said Ted Nahas, co-owner of CreditWise.