Best Identity Theft Restoration Services

During our testing of LifeLock, we discovered first-hand how Norton shields us from cyber criminals. But for the purposes of this guide, we’re interested in how they’ll protect you should your identity be stolen. The good news is that coverage is as robust as the protective services.

LifeLock is one of the few services in the industry to not only offer up to $1 million in stolen fund reimbursements, but also offer $1 million in personal expense compensation and $1 million to cover the costs of lawyers and other experts you might need to recruit in resolving your identity theft incident.

Reviewing the LifeLock dashboard for monitoring updates.

LifeLock has multiple plans, and they’re not exactly easy to find on the website. This is one of the reasons why we didn’t rank it higher. Some are listed on the budget-friendly page, and others are in the all-in-one section. But we couldn’t find a page to compare each plan one side by side. We’ve done the hard work for you and broken down every LifeLock package so you can make the right decision for you.

When we tested Identity Guard we quickly learned not to judge a book by its cover. The app doesn’t have the same modern look as other identity theft protection services, but underneath the hood it packs a lot of power. Identity Guard’s preventative services are powered by artificial intelligence, which means it can analyze billions of data points while continuing to learn about any up-and-coming threats.

But we’re here to talk about the restoration services, and Identity Guard’s tools can make a big difference. You’re insured up to $1 million in identity theft insurance and Identity Guard can freeze your credit if someone is applying for loans in your name. But it’s the White Glove Fraud service that’s the gamechanger.

Identity Guard makes it easy to freeze your credit to stop thieves from opening accounts in your name.

Unfortunately, this is only available on Identity Guard’s top plan. But it’s worth every cent. Identity Guard will assign you an expert who will design a personalized mitigation and remediation plan. It will help stop thieves from doing any further damage while also trying to recuperate any losses or reputational damage.

The problem with identity theft is you never know when it’s going to strike. But it does. About once every six seconds, according to the FTC. So having spending alerts and a credit lock in your back pocket is great. But if a thief sneaks off with your SSN, you’re going to want an identity monitoring service that’s willing to step up to the plate. We found that Aura goes above and beyond here with an unexpected range of cash payouts to cover every inch of your typical fraud disaster.

You can set financial thresholds so Aura doesn’t spam you with alerts.

We’ve reported extensively on Aura’s full battery of features in our complete Aura review. Enough to say that Aura is no lightweight. A premium Aura package is stacked with protections, including a free VPN and malware blocker, two pieces of tech you don’t want to leave the house without these days. That explains why, when you’re comparing top-of-the-line ID monitoring services, Aura packages tend to be a little pricier than average.

But that slightly higher price tag will more than pay itself off if you ever fall victim to ID fraud. Aura’s $1 million in restoration services cover lost wages ($2000 per week for five weeks max) and travel expenses ($1,000). Aura will also cover elder child care fees (up to $2,000), and accountants’ costs.

In our book, the degree of attention Aura pays to the fine points of identity theft recovery — from a consumer perspective — says a lot about Aura’s all-around service.

IdentityForce is a family-owned company that’s been around for over 40 years. The company doesn’t just have a stellar reputation for monitoring for fraud and identity theft, it is also renowned for its customer service. Especially when an incident occurs, and you need all hands on deck.

IdentityForce has a ton of resources to protect you from identity theft.

For starters, IdentityForce is one of the few identity theft protection services on the market today that offers $1 million in identity theft insurance which will cover your out-of-pocket costs as well as up to $1 million in stolen funds reimbursements. But it’s the restoration team that’s the star of the show. IdentityForce’s experts will take everything off your hands by filing legal claims and calling credit card bureaus on your behalf. Any company that’s willing to sit on hold to credit companies on our behalf is a legend in our books.

IdentityForce’s two plans are easy to compare, with the main difference between them being credit card monitoring. But thankfully, the resolution team is available for all plans.

It’s worth mentioning upfront that ID Watchdog is owned by the major credit bureau Equifax. So as you would expect, its credit monitoring features are exceptional. ID Watchdog is also great at scanning the dark web and social media. But how good is it at reclaiming your identity?

Thankfully, it’s very good. Regardless of your ID Watchdog plan, you’re assigned a resolution specialist who will help you every step of the way until everything is resolved. ID Watchdog also insures you up to $1 million in reimbursement. If you subscribe to the premium plan, ID Watchdog will even reimburse up to $1 million in stolen funds from your 401K. When we spoke to the consultant, they said it would also include coverage for employee stock options, health savings, and retirement accounts sponsored by our employers.

That’s comprehensive coverage. However, one of the issues is that Equifax has a history of data breaches. A big one occurred in 2017 and exposed data for 147 million people. It’s something to consider if you’re concerned about your personal information falling into the hands of the wrong people.

We were shocked to see how much Zander’s plans cost. But then we started digging into the features, and we quickly discovered why. Don’t get us wrong. Zander does an excellent job monitoring for things like Social Security Numbers and Change of Address. But it doesn’t keep an eye on your credit rating, bank accounts, or credit cards.

Zander will alert you when it finds compromised data.

However, should your identity be stolen, Zander offers 24/7 access to their team of certified recovery specialists that will work with you to resolve any issue. They’re also going to provide up to $1 million in coverage for expenses and to replace any stolen funds. All that peace of mind for an extremely reasonable price tag? We’re on board.

While Zanders won’t monitor your credit, it can help you lock and unlock your Experian credit file. This will stop banks from doing credit checks and thieves opening new accounts in your name.