Best Identity Theft and Credit Protection Services
Your credit score is a good indicator of potential identity theft. Find out which identity theft protection services with credit score monitoring and reporting made our list.
Your credit score is a good indicator of potential identity theft. Find out which identity theft protection services with credit score monitoring and reporting made our list.
About
IdentityForce is a Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited company. While there are 11 complaints filed with the BBB against the company, all of those were addressed in a timely and satisfactory manner. Thus, they have garnered the impressive uncommon A+...System Features
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LifeLock was named in the 2016 Online Trust Honor Roll. The Online Trust Association (OTA) tracks and monitors companies’ brand and their consumer privacy, protection, and security practices. They utilize more than 24 data points and add companies’ that score...System Features
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Identify Guard® provides around-the-clock monitoring, allowing you to rest easier in a world where digital identify theft is becoming a common occurrence. There are various stages of identity theft that take place as you get older. Identity Guard is here...System Features
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Perhaps you’ve been wondering if you really need an identity theft protection service. Or, maybe you have been wondering if they are really worth the price. If so, ask yourself these questions:
Do you have enough money to sustain you and your family if your identity was stolen? And, what if all your bank accounts were frozen for an indefinite amount of time?
Would you know how or where to begin to clear your name if your identity was stolen?
If you answered no to any of those questions, then you need—no—you urgently need an identity an theft protection service.
Why? Because if you don’t invest in one, you could be left without any means of paying for your immediate needs and quite possibly some of your future expenses as well. Your entire ability to buy anything could also be jeopardized indefinitely. And, if you don’t properly clear your name, you could end up fighting this never-ending battle quite possibly for the rest of your life.
IdentityForce, which has recently been acquired by EZShield, is now the #1 rated identity theft protection service in the industry. IdentityForce is a GSA Tier One provider for U.S. government agencies, has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, and has been in business for more than 40 years. Additionally, identity theft protection is the only thing they offer so they are laser-focused on protecting your identity and helping you fix it if it’s ever compromised. They also boast 100% recovery success, a 98% customer retention rate, and a 95% customer satisfaction rating.
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IdentityForce has two protection plans that start at $17.99/mo. (or $179.90/yr.) and an available ChildWatch plan that you can add on to your existing plan. They also provide you with a discount if you pay annually.
The UltraSecure plan includes advanced fraud monitoring, as well as monitoring for your address, court records, dark web, payday loans, sex offenders, and social media identity monitoring. This plan also sends you alerts for your bank and credit cards, as well as a social security number tracker, opt-out option for junk mail, identity threat alerts, reminders for your fraud alerts, medical identity fraud protection, online computer protection tools, two-factor authentication, assistance if you lose your wallet, and a mobile app. Additionally, they have an identity theft recovery service that includes one million dollars in identity theft insurance, fully managed restoration services, and a 24/7 customer service line.
The upper tier plan has everything that’s included in the UltraSecure plan plus credit monitoring for all three credit reports, all three credit bureaus, and gives you all three credit report scores, well as a credit score tracker and a credit score simulator.
They also have periodic incentives such as lower monthly fees and larger annual discounts available that pop up as you go to exit the website. So be sure to look for those.
LifeLock has been offering identity theft protection services since 2005 and currently has over 9,000 positive member reviews. They offer a full line of services including their recently added Norton Internet Security protection. They leverage unique data and their patented technology to detect potential threats and offer comprehensive, industry-leading remediation services. And, in 2016 LifeLock was named in the Online Trust Honor Roll and recognized for their exceptional customer protection, data security, and privacy practices.
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LifeLock has three available identity theft protection packages that start at $9.99/mo (plus applicable sales tax) and a LifeLock Junior that can be added on to your plan for $5.99/mo (plus applicable sales tax).
All the LifeLock packages include SSN and credit alerts, lost wallet protection, USPS address change verification, dark web monitoring, privacy monitoring, and monitoring for one credit bureau. They also offer reimbursement for stolen funds, up to a million dollar protection package, personal expense compensation, and coverage for lawyers and experts. However, the amount of coverage for these services is dependent upon your selected package.
The middle tier package adds alerts for bank and credit card activity, crimes in your name, data breaches, and fictitious identity monitoring. And the upper tier adds 3-credit bureau monitoring, credit score tracking, 401(k) and investment alerts, bank account and alerts for new accounts opened in your name, file-sharing network searches, registered sex offender reports, and you are given priority with their live member support.
Identity Guard has been in business since 1996 when it was founded by Intersections Inc. They currently have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and have been recognized at the Online Trust Audit and Honor Roll by the Online Trust Alliance for six consecutive years. Additionally, they have recently added an AI feature called Watson to more effectively keep up with emerging trends in identity theft and to help better protect their customers.
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Identity Guard offers three individual plans that start at $8.99/mo. and three family plans that start at $14.99/mo. Their family plans cover unlimited family members (including your kids) living in the same household all for one price. However, they don’t sell individual plans for children, but there’s really no reason for one with the family plan being such a great deal.
Identity Guard has an AI feature called IBM Watson that no other identity theft protection company has. All of their plans include Watson AI, $1 million insurance with stolen funds reimbursement, a dedicated U.S. based resolution case manager, your risk management score, an all-in-one-place online identity dashboard with protection tools, a mobile app (including an anti-phishing feature), and an internet safe browsing extension.
There are other features available and are dependent upon which package you choose. Those features include your monthly credit score, 3-bureau credit changes, bank account takeovers, checking or savings account requests using your name, potential social media cyberbullying with content details, and a social insights report.
Experian has been in business for over 125 years and is a global leader in consumer and business credit reporting and other marketing options. They offer their services in more than 80 countries and employ about 17,000 people in 37 countries. Since they are credit reporting experts, adding identity theft protection services is a logical next step for their lineup of available features.
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Experian’s IdentityWorks offers a variety of differently priced monitoring plans that range from $9.99/mo. to $29.99/mo. You can choose your plan, then customize it depending on your particular situation. For example, you can select one adult, one adult and up to 10 children, or two adults and up to 10 children. They also offer you a 17% discount if you pay annually.
All of the Experian IdentityWorks plans come with dark web surveillance, identity theft insurance up to $1 million, U.S. based fraud resolution services, lost wallet assistance, identity theft monitoring and alerts, social security number monitoring, address change verification, attempted credit inquiries, lock and unlock your Experian credit file, new credit and account alerts, large account balance changes, credit utilization, positive activity and dormant account reports, FICO score alerts, credit score tracking, FICO score simulator, and other additional FICO scores such as auto, home, and bankcard.
You will receive additional services with the upper tier plans such as social security number trace, social network monitoring, bank account and credit card takeovers, identity validation alerts, payday loan monitoring, court records and bookings, sex offender registry, file-sharing network monitoring, and 3-credit bureau FICO scores.
PrivacyGuard is ranked number one in customer service by Contact Center World and has recently added two new features to their lineup of services which are the mobile secure browser and the secure keyboard that both give you a little more peace of mind when it comes to browsing the internet, sharing, shopping, and banking online.
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IdentityGuard has three protection plans that range from $9.99/mo. to $24.99/mo. and no child protection plans to date.
Each IdentityGuard plan comes with a mobile secure keyboard, mobile and PC secure browsing, dedicated ID fraud resolution support, ID verification monitoring, dark web monitoring, social security number monitoring, public web monitoring, annual public records report, public records monitoring, online fraud assistance, lowering the receipt of pre-approved credit card offers, lost wallet assistance, and up to one million dollars in ID theft insurance.
The other plans include triple-credit reports and scores, triple-bureau credit monitoring (daily), credit score tracking (monthly), a credit score simulator, financial calculators, and a credit information hotline, depending on the plan you select.
The following are the most common features of identity theft protection services that include credit protection:
Bank account takeovers, or bank account fraud, is when someone else takes over your bank account. This results in the perpetrator sending your money to another payee and sometimes even being used to pay their bills. The perpetrator will generally change your password immediately in an effort to give themselves more time to drain your account before you notice.
Payday loans, sometimes referred to as non-credit loans, are where a criminal will take out a short-term loan from a business that lends money without performing a credit check. That means this type of identity fraud can occur without triggering a credit monitoring alert which means they frequently go undetected for longer periods of time.
Credit report monitoring is when your identity theft protection service monitors your actual credit bureau reports for any inquiries, changes, suspicious activity, or unusual activity then notifies you if anything is detected.
With credit score reporting, the identity theft protection service will monitor your credit score and notify you if it has gone up or down. If you notice a significant change in your credit score (higher or lower) this could be an indication that your identity might have been compromised.
Identity theft insurance coverage helps you recover should your identity become compromised. These funds cover many of the expenses associated with resolving and restoring your identity theft issues.
The 401k and investment activity alerts will monitor your accounts for large withdrawals or other types of suspicious activity and send you alerts if anything is detected.
Bank and credit card activity alerts will notify you if a charge, withdrawal, balance transfer, etc. exceed your pre-set dollar amount for notification.
If you have loan application monitoring, your identity theft protection service will monitor your credit reports for any indication that a new loan application has been submitted in your name.
Social security number monitoring scans public records and other credit header data sources in an effort to identify records matching your social security number.
