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June 1, 2023
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Identity theft is a genuine concern for older adults in the United States. Nearly one in ten people over 65 experienced identity theft in the past 10 years. Luckily, there are some ways that you can help protect your private information, particularly through identity theft protection services.
In this rundown, we take a look at our favorite identity protection services, ranking them in order of how well they performed in our tests.
FYI: To learn more about seniors and identity theft, read our guide to senior identity theft.
An identity theft protection service carefully monitors your personal information to check for any possible breaches. They keep an eye on the information most often compromised by identity theft, including your credit reports, social security number, your name, and public records. By monitoring your information 24/7, they can alert you the moment an issue arises so you can deal with it before it gets any further out of hand.
Many services also offer recovery services that help you deal with the aftermath of any identity theft. They have trained counselors on hand to help you figure out your next steps. They can also help you write letters, put a freeze on your credit score, and even deal with creditors. This is particularly helpful for seniors, who might feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do next if they become a victim of identity theft.
Credit monitoring provides a similar service. However, they only monitor information directly related to your credit score, while identity theft protection monitors a wider range of information and therefore provides more protection.
There are lots of identity theft protection services out there. Here are some questions you can ask to help you find the best one for you.
Taking the time to ask these questions will help you choose a plan that truly protects and helps you. If you can’t get straight answers or it’s hard to get on the phone or email with someone to talk about their service, that’s a definite warning bell and you should look elsewhere.
Now you know some of the things to look for, let’s compare some identity theft protection services so you can see what they offer and which one might be right for you. We’ve compared ten popular identity theft protection services below.
Identity Guard uses IBM’s Watson AI to constantly scan for suspicious activity that could point to an identity theft situation. You set up a watch list at sign up that lets Watson know what to scan for.
What it monitors: Identity Guard offers different coverage depending on which plan you sign up for. Here is an overview of each plan:
Alerts: Identity Guard gives you quick alerts through email or a smartphone app.
Recovery services: You get a dedicated case manager, who personally supervises your account for 60 days after the problem is resolved.
Insurance: Up to $1 million depending on your plan and circumstances.
Customer service: Available 8:00 AM – 11:00 PM EST Monday to Friday, and 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST Saturday (call or email.)
Cost: Value is $9.99 monthly, Total is $19.99 monthly, and Premier is $24.99 monthly.
Free trial: No
Pro Tip: If you want to use the Identity Guard app, you’ll need a smartphone. To learn about our favorites, check out our lists of the best smartphones for seniors and best iPhones for seniors.
LifeLock is an identity theft protection service that works in conjunction with Norton anti-virus and anti-malware software to provide a comprehensive identity theft plan.
What it monitors: LifeLock offers different levels of monitoring, depending on which plan you sign up for. All plans include Norton anti-virus and anti-malware software.
Alerts: LifeLock alerts you of fraudulent activity through either phone, email, or app notifications.
Recovery services: In the event of identity theft, you’ll be assigned an identity restoration specialist to work with you.
Insurance: With LifeLock, you’re covered for personal expenses, reimbursement of stolen funds, and coverage for lawyers and experts (assigned by LifeLock) to handle your case. Insurance amounts range from $25,000 to $1 million, depending on your plan.
Customer service: 24/7 support
Cost: $14.99 monthly for Standard ($9.99 monthly for the first year), $24.99 monthly for Advantage ($19.99 monthly for the first year), or $34.99 monthly for Ultimate Plus ($29.99 monthly for the first year.)
Free trial: No
To learn more about this software, check out our rundown of LifeLock for Seniors.
With cybercrime on the rise, there are more ways than ever for scammers to access your data and steal it. Aura addresses this through a wide array of protection services, including spam call protection, VPNs, and antivirus protection for your devices.
What it monitors: Aura monitors your devices as well as your personal information, including online accounts, Social Security numbers, financial accounts, passwords, and credit reports. If irregularities are found with any of these, you’ll promptly be notified.
Alerts: Through the Aura smartphone app or its SMS alerts, users will get real-time alerts in the event of suspicious activity. If a user thinks their identity has been compromised, then they’ll have access to Aura’s 24/7 customer support and fraud resolution.
Recovery services: In addition to its fraud resolution services, Aura also offers users identity theft protection insurance.
Insurance: Aura includes insurance coverage for stolen funds and legal expenses up to $1 million for individual accounts.
Cost: Aura costs $15 per month for an individual account. This is lowered to $12 per month if a user pays on an annual basis (totaling $144 in upfront payments).
Free trial: 14 days
ID Watchdog monitors billions of data points for potential problems, meaning you get a full overview of any issues, twenty-four hours a day.
What it monitors: ID Watchdog monitors an impressive range of information, including housing records, court records, criminal records, driving records, money transfers, payday loans, the dark web, and credit reports.
Alerts: By email or SMS. You can also monitor all activity on your account via your online portal.
Recovery services: If you fall victim to fraud while on an active ID Watchdog plan, you’ll be assigned an identity theft risk management specialist who will assess your case, and work with you until it’s resolved.
Insurance: Up to $1 million depending on your plan and circumstances.
Customer service: You can get help 24/7 by calling a toll-free phone number.
Cost: $14.95 monthly for the Plus plan, or $19.95 monthly for Platinum, which includes everything in Plus, along with your credit report and score.
Free trial: No
IdentityForce offers a comprehensive identity theft protection service that monitors a wide range of problem areas to alert you quickly to any problems.
What it monitors: IdentityForce monitors an impressively wide range, including credit and financial fraud, change of address attempts, court records, credit reports, the dark web, payday loans applications, whether a sex offender has attempted to use your identity, and unusual use of your social media accounts.
Alerts: Alerts are released in practically real-time, and you can get them via email or on your mobile phone as a text alert.
Recovery services: Identity Protection Experts assist in all aspects of recovery, including support, filing claims, and filing paperwork on your behalf.
Insurance: Yes. IdentityForce will in some circumstances cover the costs involved in recovery from identity theft, including court costs, travel, child or spousal care, ordering documents, or wages lost.
Customer service: IdentityForce offers a toll-free number so you can always speak to a real person.
Cost: $17.95 monthly or $179.50 if you pay a year in advance. Or, opt for protection plus credit monitoring for $23.95 monthly or $239.50 if you pay a year in advance.
Free trial: Yes
Zander Insurance bills itself as an affordable identity theft protection service. They monitor a range of problem areas and provide restoration services to help you get back on track if you fall victim to identity theft.
What it monitors: Zander Insurance monitors your personal information, social security number, court records, change of address, and data breaches. It looks for benefits fraud, medical ID fraud, tax fraud, criminal ID theft, and financial fraud.
Alerts: By email.
Recovery services: Yes
Insurance: Up to $1 million depending on your plan and circumstances.
Customer service: 24/7 support
Cost: $6.75 monthly, or $12.90 monthly for the family plan.
Free trial: No
PrivacyGuard provides identity and credit fraud services to alert you to any problems with your ID. You can choose between identity or credit services, or buy a combined package that takes care of both.
What it monitors: PrivacyGuard ID Protection monitors public records, the dark web, ID verification requests, online directories, and your social security number. PrivacyGuard Credit Protection offers 24/7 credit monitoring, plus monthly credit reports and scores from the big three bureaus. PrivacyGuard Total Protection combines their ID and credit protection services into one complete package.
Alerts: PrivacyGuard alerts customers of inquiries and certain changes to credit files by sending a text or email alert message. The company provides real-time monitoring with email alert if your monitored information is for sale on any black market website. They then provide instructions on how to remove your personal information from those sites or search engines.
Recovery services: You will be assigned a case manager to offer support and guidance. If you have the ID Protection or Total Protection plan, PrivacyGuard will work on your behalf to get cards stopped and re-issued, work with creditors, and file paperwork.
Insurance: Up to $1 million depending on your plan and circumstances.
Customer service: 24/7 support
Cost: ID Protection costs $9.99 monthly, Credit Protection is $19.99 monthly, and Total Protection is $24.99 monthly.
Free trial: No, but you can try it for 14 days for just $1, after which you’ll be charged a monthly fee if you don’t cancel.
Experian is well known as one of the big three credit bureaus. They also offer their own identity theft protection service, for extra peace of mind.
What it monitors: Experian monitors your information at all three main credit bureaus. They also monitor the dark web, court records, sex offender alerts, mail redirect requests, payday and non-credit loan applications, social security number use, social networks, file-sharing services, and new bank account open requests (exact coverage and frequency varies with plans so we highly recommend reading the small print to know what’s covered before you sign up.) You can also freeze your credit report to help protect you.
Alerts: When Experian identifies a problem with any monitored information, users receive a real-time alert notice that the user easily views on the Identity Theft section of Experian’s IdentityWorks site.
Users discover specifics about each alert because of the way that Experian breaks the section down into three sub-sections. The three sub-sections are Activity, Protection, and Resolution.
There is a timeline of all alerts provided, enabling users to view each of them by date. IdentityWorks easily identifies unread alert messages, distinguishing them from old alert messages. Each alert message provides instructions about contacting Experian for customer support.
Recovery services: Yes, you get dedicated fraud resolution support to help you get things back on track.
Insurance: Up to $1 million depending on your plan and circumstances.
Customer service: There is no online chat service provided for IdentityWorks users. Users call and follow the easy-to-understand phone menu and press the right button for their specific needs. There is also an option to speak to a representative Monday through Friday from 6 am to 6 pm Pacific time or on Saturday or Sunday, from 8 am to 5 pm Pacific time.
Cost: $9.99 monthly for Plus, or $19.99 monthly for Premium, which monitors a wider range of potential ID fraud data points.
Free trial: 30-day free trial available.
MyIDCare says it offers “World-class protection” from professionals that safeguard Fortune 500 companies and government institutions. They also have backing from the power of ID Experts, which serves many large retailers, financial institutions, healthcare, and educational facilities. MyIDCare offers both individual plans and plans that protect the entire family against identity theft.
What it monitors: MyIDCare monitors your identity for nine types of identity theft. Types of identity theft protection include medical, insurance, social security, financial, employment, synthetic, criminal, child and driver‘s license. MyIDCare helps protect against card skimming, email phishing, WiFi network hacking, discarded documents and employment scams. Other protection provided by MyIDCare includes mail fraud, hackers and passwords, data breaches, and malware software. MyIDCare monitors your credit activity.
Alerts: The company alerts you if there are changes to your credit record, when someone opens new accounts in your name or when other suspicious activities occur, using your personal information. You receive alerts via text or email.
Recovery services: MyIDCare offers a “Recovery Superhero.” This person is your recovery expert that acts on your behalf to resolve your identity theft situation. MyIDCare team members continue to keep your case on file for three years after any reported identity theft case.
Insurance: Users have the confidence in knowing that the company provides up to $1 million in reimbursement insurance. Company representatives discuss this further if you need reimbursement services.
Customer service: There is no 24/7 customer service at MyIDCare. Contact the company by phone Monday through Friday from 6 am to 6 pm. You can also send an email to MyIDCare. The website lists both the telephone number and email address.
Cost: There are two plans through this company. The MyIDCare Essentials Plan, offered at $9.95 per month, provides single bureau monitoring and many of the same features as the other plan, the MyIDCare Premier Plan, which costs $19.95 per month. The premier plan features tri-bureau monitoring and instant inquiry alerts, not provided in the MyIDCare Essentials Plan.
Free trial: There is no free trial currently available.
AllClear ID offers a variety of services, including identity theft monitoring, fraud alerts with credit monitoring and AllClear Identity Repair services. The company stresses that its identity repair services are the most important offered service. AllClear ID provides automatic access to identity repair for all eligible customers. Eligible customers are individuals that receive a notice from a company they do business with that their personal information has potentially been compromised by a data breach.
What it monitors: AllClear ID monitors and conducts a proactive search of your credit and public records for any additional identity theft occurrences. The company conducts a ‘360 identity scan’ that helps discover whether you are a victim of any type of fraud.
Alerts: AllClear ID monitors and conducts a proactive search of your credit and public records for any additional identity theft occurrences. The company conducts a ‘360 identity scan’ that helps discover whether you are a victim of any type of fraud.
Recovery services: The company that experienced the data breach sponsors services with AllClear ID. Eligible individuals receive personalized service from a representative that helps recover their financial losses and repairs their credit reports.
Insurance: There is up to $1 million identity theft insurance provided that helps provide reimbursement for some fees, lost wages, and fraud losses related to the identity recovery.
Customer service: Follow the information in the data breach letter you received from the company that experienced the data breach. If you believe you are possibly eligible for monitoring and recovery services from AllClear ID, call the phone number on the site from 8 am to 8 pm Central time.
Cost: There is no cost for eligible individuals, families receiving monitoring, or identity recovery services from this company. Consumers receive sponsored services from the company that experienced the data breach.
Free trial: There are no costs to the individual or family and therefore no need for free trial services.
Intelius Identity Protect helps keep you safe with regular monitoring and access to 24/7 identity fraud resolution experts.
What it monitors: Credit reports and public records.
Alerts: Intelius Identity Protect sends an email alert whenever a covered individual experiences an incident of potential fraud. The company also provides easy access to fraud resolution experts.
Recovery services: You have 24/7 access to identity fraud resolution experts and an identity recovery kit.
Insurance: Up to $1 million depending on your plan and circumstances.
Customer service: There is 24/7 customer service access available to users. This service provides convenient access to the highly-trained fraud resolution experts at Intelius Identity Protect.
Cost: When your seven-day free trial expires, Intelius Identity Protect automatically bills your credit card on file for the monthly membership fee of $19.95 per month if you do not cancel within the seven-day free trial. After the first billing, the company automatically bills your credit card the monthly fee every month on approximately the same date. The monthly cost does not include any taxes that are potentially applicable to your membership.
Free trial: 7-day free trial available
Anyone can become a victim of identity theft. However, seniors are particularly vulnerable for several reasons:
Scammers get information from all kinds of sources: Dumpster diving, stealing mail, skimming credit or debit cards in shops, or hacking online accounts. The effects of identity theft on seniors can be devastating. The process of getting help and getting things back to normal can be complicated and upsetting, while the knowledge that someone stole their identity leaves them feeling stressed and vulnerable.
The more steps seniors can take to protect their identity, the better. One way to do that is by signing up for an identity theft protection service.
With identity theft on the rise, it only makes sense to sign up for an identity theft protection service. We recommend choosing one that covers all three credit bureaus, and deals with sorting out any issues on your behalf, to cut down on stress and paperwork.
No service can prevent all identity fraud, but you can make sure any problems are found and dealt with as quickly as possible, giving you extra peace of mind.
