With more of our personal information being sent and stored via the internet, fraud and identity theft continue to rise. There are plenty of great options available for reasonable prices that can help to protect your identity, personal information, and credit score.
Pricing: Individual plans ranging from $7.50 to $25 per month and family plans from $12.50 to $33.33 per month.
While perhaps a bit lacking in its monitoring services, Aura's Identity Guard is one of the most comprehensive in identity theft protection. Using an IBM Watson artificial intelligence program, Identity Guard scans the dark web for personal information such as social security numbers or banking information. This level of protection is the best available, but credit monitoring is not as robust.
Identity Guard monitors three credit bureaus, but credit reports are only available once a year, and there is no opt-in for fraud alerts. This is a middle-of-the-road option in terms of price.
Pros:
- Anti-phishing mobile app.
- Bank account and investment account monitoring.
- Customer service is rated A+ with BBB.
- IBM Watson artificial intelligence scanning program.
- Identity theft insurance up to $1 million.
- Monitors all three credit bureaus.
- Offers safe browsing tools to protect online shopping, banking, or bill paying.
- Reduces telemarketing calls, junk mail, and phishing emails.
- Social insight reports.
- Tax refund fraud alerts.
- Three different plans provide flexibility.
Cons:
- Credit reports only once per year.
- Does not offer a specific computer tool package.
- No fraud alert with credit bureaus.
- No "limited power of attorney" for recovery services.
- No money-back guarantee.
- Pricey mid-tier and upper-tier plans.
- Single bureau credit score.
Pricing: Ranging between $9.99 and $17.99 per month for individual plans. Identity Force also offers custom family plans and enterprise plans to businesses.
Depending on which option you choose, Identity Force can either be very high on this list or very low. The basic and cheaper option is decent in terms of identity theft protection, but its credit monitoring feature doesn't offer reports, scores, or a broad monitoring scope.
However, the more expensive plan is excellent and could reach the best on this list. This is one of the more pricey options, but an annual subscription and family plan would help to lower the overall price.
Pros:
- Access to credit report fraud assistance.
- Credit freeze button.
- Credit score simulator with the higher plan.
- Customer service is rated A+ with BBB.
- Dark web monitoring.
- Identity theft insurance up to $1 million.
- Junk mail opt-out.
- Offers a VPN.
- Quarterly credit reports.
- Social media identity monitoring is in the basic plan.
- Two-factor authentication.
- Two months free on annual plans.
Cons:
- Above-average price.
- Best features are limited to a more expensive plan.
- You can't contact customer support through the iOS app.
- Information like IP address, web beacons, and browser fingerprinting is collected during the registration.
- The lower tier plan doesn't offer credit monitoring for all three bureaus.
- No refunds for cancelling the service.
- Only two plan options.
- Subpar mobile app.
Pricing: Individual plans range from $13.95 to $17.95 a month. The family plan ranges from $19.95 to $32.95 and is where the real value lies.
If you are looking for the best way to cover a large family, this is probably the best option. By offering coverage for 10 people in their family plan, IDShield has the best family plan. Individual plans lack computer protections such as VPN or anti-virus software. For families, there's no better option.
Pros:
- Alerts you whenever sex offenders move to your area.
- Bank accounts monitored.
- Customer service rated as A+ with BBB.
- The family plan is available for up to 10 people.
- Identity theft insurance up to $5 million.
- Monitors all three credit bureaus with 12-month credit score tracking.
- Offers additional educational resources.
- Quarterly credit reports.
- Will assign a private investigator to help restore a stolen identity.
Cons:
- Above average price for individual plans.
- Alerts must be activated to receive them.
- Confusing setup.
- Limited plan levels and options.
- No computer protections.
- No credit reports.
- No credit simulation.
- No 401(k) or retirement account monitoring.
- No VPN or anti-virus software.
- Single bureau credit score.
Pricing: Basic plans start at $8.99 a month and provide "good enough" internet security, but the best protection comes with the more expensive plans that cap out at $34.99 per month.
It can be pretty hard to beat Norton when it comes to internet security, but LifeLock is an excellent alternative. LifeLock's identity fraud protections are among the very best.
LifeLock's identity theft insurance is some of the best on the market, but credit monitoring is among the worst on this list. Most egregiously, LifeLock doesn't have a family plan. Instead, each child must have their own junior plan, which is about $5.99 extra per child every month.
Pros:
- All plans provide identity theft insurance.
- Constant dark web scans for personal data.
- Includes VPN.
- Insurance includes stolen funds reimbursement and personal expense compensation.
- Norton 360 software is available with some plans, excellent protection against viruses, spyware, and malware for up to five different devices.
- Real-time fraud alerts are available by text, phone, and email.
- 60-day money-back guarantee with the annual plan.
- Three different plans available: Standard, Advantage, and Ultimate Plus.
- Tracks social security number.
- Up to $1 million for lawyers and experts, $25,000 to $1 million for stolen funds and personal expense compensation.
Cons:
- Above average price.
- Coverage for children is an additional $5.99 for each child per month.
- Credit file can only be locked with one bureau, not all three.
- Must meet credit requirement to be eligible for credit protection and monitoring.
- No credit simulator.
- No family plan offered with LifeLock. Must purchase an additional junior plan for children.
- The standard plan comes with less identity theft insurance.
- The standard plan lacks alerts such as bank account and credit card activity.
- Standard and Advantage plans only monitor one credit bureau.
Pricing: The plans range in price from $9.99 to $24.99 monthly, so if you are only looking for very certain coverage, you could find a good one for cheap.
PrivacyGuard essentially offers an identity theft protection plan, a credit reporting plan, and a plan that includes both. So in that way, it's good for giving you exactly what you want, but some of the plan options severely lack what some may consider crucial features. However, there are better options available on this list for a similar price when it comes to comprehensive coverage.
Pros:
- All three credit bureaus monitored with some plans.
- Antivirus software.
- Customer service rating of A+ with BBB.
- Monthly blended credit reports are available with some plans.
- New users can try any plan for two weeks for just $1.
- Three different options are available with different options.
- Up to $1 million identity theft insurance with some plans.
Cons:
- No bank account monitoring.
- No family plans offered.
- Social network monitoring not provided.
- Some plans have glaring gaps in credit or identity monitoring on their own.
What do identity theft protection services do?
These services will monitor websites and various databases for any signs of your personal information such as social security number, driver's license number, bank account number, credit card number, etc.
If any of this information is found online anywhere, it could be used in many different ways to steal money from you. These protection services will typically alert you and inform you of what you should do to prevent any future issues or help you to recover from theft.
What are the signs of identity theft?
The most common signs associated with identity theft are collection calls or credit reports related to accounts you didn't open, unexpectedly being denied a loan or credit card, and bills for accounts you didn't open.
It can take a long time before seeing evidence that your identity has been stolen and will come quickly and surprisingly.
What should I look for in an identity theft protection service?
There are several things on the checklist that you should adhere to when searching for an identity theft protection service. Arguably the most important aspects when comparing one to the other would be: their monitoring and how extensive it goes, their alerts and how quickly you will be notified of fraud attempts, and recovery and how much insurance is offered and additional help and services.
Which is the right service for you?
Overall the best plan for protecting your identity and monitoring your credit as an individual is probably Identity Guard. While its credit monitoring is a little lacking, it comes through with its identity theft protection. However, if you are looking to cover your entire family, then you may want to look into IDShield, particularly if you have a large family that you want to protect.
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