Identity Protection Services

Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus that are responsible for compiling and updating Americans’ credit histories and credit scores. Since credit is one of the major impacts of identity theft, it makes sense that Experian would offer identity theft protection.

Experian IdentityWorks continually monitors places where identity thieves operate, such as:

• The dark web
• Court records
• Payday loans
• Unauthorized changes of address through the U.S. Postal Service
• Fraudulent uses of your Social Security number and financial accounts

This service provides credit monitoring of all three credit reports. Armed with this information, you can often take action to contact the institution involved to report the fraudulent activity and stop it from causing further damage.

You can also lock your Experian credit file so that anyone opening an account with a merchant or bank that reports to Experian would be rejected (they would still be able to do so if the organization reports to Transunion or Equifax). You can even monitor your Experian credit score daily.

In the unfortunate event of your identity being stolen, Experian IdentityWorks provides you with a dedicated fraud resolution support line to help you repair the damage. If your money is stolen, you could even get up to $1 million in identity theft insurance to compensate you for your losses.

The service has two levels and a variety of plans. Prices range from $9.99 to $19.99 per month. Unlike the basic plan (IdentityWorks Plus), the premium level covers the three-bureau credit scores quarterly as well as monitoring of payday loans, financial account activity, identity validation alerts, court records, sex offender registry, file-sharing network and social network.

Pros: 

• Affordable prices
• Broad credit monitoring
• Easy to lock and unlock credit file

Cons: 

• Sex offender and court monitoring not very reliable
• Focuses more on Experian and less on Transunion and Equifax

LifeLock is a service of Norton, an anti-virus and online security software company. It was one of the first companies in the identity theft protection space. As such, it has a large customer base. 

Like IdentityWorks, LifeLock provides credit monitoring services to spot red flags of suspicious activity. They also monitor a variety of services, like:

• The dark web 
• Phone takeovers
• Home titles
• Social media accounts
• Bank and investment accounts 
• Court records

One popular feature of LifeLock is the mobile app, which can alert you as soon as something is detected. The app tells you what it found and asks you if you were the one who initiated the transaction so you can verify it. If you did not, you can reach LifeLock agents immediately through the app and they can help you to resolve the matter.

The app also gives you constant access to all three of your credit scores, which is great when you are trying to improve your credit. For an additional fee, you can add Norton 360 which includes device security, a secure VPN for private online browsing and cloud backup for your data.

In addition, LifeLock provides a U.S.-based identity restoration specialist who works on your case from start to finish if your identity gets stolen. It also provides up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. 

The price of LifeLock’s services, however, can be steep. The company offers three levels of services based on one adult, starting at $6.99 per month up to $19.99 per month. With the Norton 360 add-on, plans range from $5.83 per month to $24.99 per month. It is important to note that the cost is higher if you pay monthly, and these prices are only for the first year. 

Pros:

• User-friendly mobile app
• Availability of device security and VPN

Cons:

• More expensive than other services

Unlike the other identity theft protection services included on this list, Advanced Identity Protector is a downloadable software, not a service. Once you download the program and install it on your Windows device (it is not available for Chrome or iOS), you can use it to monitor your sensitive information. 

This includes:

• Email and login credentials
• Passwords
• Credit card numbers
• Contact information
• Social Security numbers

Once found, you can delete or save the data in the built-in Secure Vault, where the information is encrypted. You can also organize the information in the Secure Vault for easy access when you need it.

The software is not automatic, so you must initiate a scan manually. It is not a robust identity theft solution, but more of a device security and information encryption tool.  

Pros: 

• Allows you to manage more difficult passwords, which improves security
• Monitors email clients

Cons:

• No credit monitoring services
• No dark web monitoring
• No identity theft insurance
• No one to help you restore your identity

IDShield is a division of LegalShield, which sells legal plans so that members have access to the company’s associated attorneys. The service provides continuous credit monitoring for TransUnion or all three bureaus, depending on the plan. 

They also alert you to hard credit inquiries and monitor your information in the following areas:

• Court records
• The dark web
• Financial accounts
• Medical data
• Payday loans
• Telecom
• Social media
• Public records
• High-risk applications
• Subprime transactions
• Auto records

Additional security features of IDShield include malware protection, a VPN, password manager, username/password credentials monitoring and online reputation management. The company provides 24/7 emergency assistance, help with placing credit freezes and fraud alerts, lost/stolen wallet assistance and full-service identity restoration using licensed private investigators.

All of the covered services are available on all of the plans. The only differences are the number of people covered (individual vs. family plan) and whether it is one or all three credit bureaus. 

An individual plan with one credit bureau is $14.95 per month, and an individual with all three bureaus is $19.95 per month. Family plans are offered between $29.95 and $34.95 per month.

Pros:

• Complete security, identity theft credit protection and reputation management solution
• Only service to use licensed private investigators for identity restoration
• Investigators handle everything and keep working until the problem is completely resolved

Cons:

• Higher price, especially if you don’t plan to use all of the services

Like LifeLock, McAfee Identity Theft Protection has the option of bundling identity theft protection with computer and device protection as part of the McAfee Total Protection Ultimate subscription. McAfee claims that its monitoring can identify potential problems an average of 10 months sooner than the competition, although it doesn’t say how exactly it does that.

Its “cyber monitoring” is essentially credit monitoring, but it is limited to Experian and not TransUnion or Equifax. It provides up to $1 million in identity theft insurance and reimburses identity theft victims up to $10,000 in stolen funds. 

It is a bit more affordable than many of the other services. There are three plans which are based on devices rather than individual people:

• The Basic plan costs $34.99 per year for one device
• The Plus plan costs $39.99 per year for five devices
• The Ultimate plan costs $74.99 per year for unlimited devices and is the only plan that includes the $1 million in ID theft insurance

McAfee is a solid, well-respected company, but the identity theft protection it offers is more like an add-on service to its device security and VPN functionality than anything that can stand on its own.

Pros:

• Low price
• Possibly quicker alerts

Cons

• Not as detailed monitoring as other services
• ID theft insurance only on most expensive plan

Identity Guard uses artificial intelligence to monitor and mine data online. Identity Guard monitors the dark web and gives you data breach notifications. 

Depending on your plan, you can also get bank account monitoring, one bureau monthly credit score or three-bureau credit monitoring (the total plan). For comprehensive coverage, you could choose the ultra plan, which provides:

• High-risk transaction monitoring
• Social media insights reports
• Financial account and credit card monitoring
• Criminal and sex offense monitoring
• Address change and home title monitoring
• “White glove resolution concierge” in the event of a problem
• Three-bureau annual credit report

The plans for individuals start at $7.50 per month for the value plan, $16.67 per month for the total plan, and $25 per month for the ultra plan. All plans include up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.

While it is possible that the AI detects more identity theft indications than other services, the value plan does not provide ample services. Another downside of this service is that subscribers only have access to credit reports once a year, as opposed to continually like some of the other plans. 

Pros:

• AI might catch more breaches
• Company claims that customers get fraud alerts up to four times faster than other services
• They have a mobile app 

Cons:

• Value plan is very bare bones; only ultra plan is comparable to competition
• Only yearly access to all three credit reports