Best Identity Theft Protection of September 2024
Identity Guard®
9.9
- Continuous Monitoring with Alerts
- Three-Bureau Credit Report
- Comprehensive Data Sources
- Dedicated Case Manager
- Includes IBM Watson
IdentityForce
9.8
- 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring
- Bank and Credit Card Activity Alerts
- Advanced Fraud Monitoring
- Comprehensive Social Media Identity Monitoring
- $1 Million Identity Theft Insurance & Recovery
- Dedicated Resolution Specialist in the event of an identity theft incident
IdentityIQ
9.8
- $1 million identity theft insurance
- 3-Bureau monitoring and alerts
- $25K identity theft insurance for kids
- Dark web monitoring
- SSN alerts
McAfee Identity Theft Protection
9.7
- 3-bureau credit monitoring
- $1M identity fraud reimbursement
- $10K stolen funds reimbursement
- Social security number trace
- 24/7/365 agents available
- Trusted leader in cybersecurity
myFICO
9.7
- Instant access to your credit report
- Track your FICO score
- Detects threats to personal information
- Restore your identity with expert features
- Lost wallet protection
MyCleanID - Privacy Management Software
9.6
- Privacy Management Software
- Secured Personal Trace
- Protect Your PC
- Social Security Protection
- Email Address Protection
- Telephone Number Protection
Best identity theft protection companies are those that provide all credit reports and many features in their plans to protect your identity. Identity theft protection sites that provide the most features are typically paid. However, many reliable companies offer credit reports and credit monitoring for free. There are many sites of the type: free credit report. The catch is that they require you to add your credit card, and then they start charging you for credit monitoring, which is not free. This looks like a scam. A free identity theft protection site means totally free! A site that won’t ask you even to give your credit card. People’s main reason to subscribe to credit monitoring is to prevent identity theft and monitor their credit reports for updates.
Below are the best identity theft protection companies for 2022. Some of them are totally free and provide reliable service. We also give you the big names in paid credit monitoring because some provide much more features for more advanced people.
No identity theft protection can prevent identity theft in full! If someone tells you this, that is a scam! The most secure ways to prevent identity theft are: credit freeze, fraud alert, and be careful with who you share your personal information with! And get credit monitoring. The fact that credit monitoring can’t prevent identity theft in full doesn’t mean that you don’t have to get it!
Best Identity Theft Protection of September 2024
LifeLock
What plans does LifeLock offer?
LifeLock has 3 individual plans: LifeLock Standard, LifeLock Advantage, and LifeLock Ultimate Plus.
LifeLock Standard costs you $8.99/mo first year. After that, you have to prepare $11.99/mo. Per year: $124.99.
LifeLock Advantage costs you $17.99/mo first year; after that, $22.99/mo. Per year: $239.99.
LifeLock Ultimate Plus is $25.99/mo first year; after that, $34.99/mo. Per year: $339.99.
But now, LifeLock offers discounted prices.
IdentityGuard
IdentityGuard offers one of the most comprehensive identity theft protection plans and credit monitoring. IdentityGuard is a leading identity theft protection and credit monitoring company.
IdentityGuard offers a 33% discount on all plans!
Individual Plans:
- Value: $6.67/mo.
- Premier: $16.67/mo.
- Total: $13.33/mo.
Which one to choose?
The cheapest plan that IdentityGuard offer is Value. With it, you get all basic identity theft protection and credit monitoring features. The best is the Premier Plan. With the Premier Plan, there are only a few included features, but they are crucial for people who are at risk of identity theft or are in the process of building credit. The missing features in Value that are added in Premier are:
- 3-Bureau Credit Changes.
- Bank Account Takeovers.
- Requests to Open Checking or Savings Accounts With Your Information.
- Monthly Credit Score.
These features play an important role and help you act fast if someone tries to steal your identity.
The same features help people who are in the process of building credit. You will be alerted instantly if your credit increase!
And you can get these features for only $10 extra per month!
Family Plans:
- Value: $10.00/mo.
- Premier: $23.33/mo.
- Total: $20.00/mo.
The Family Plan that IdentityGuard offer is one of the best. Your family will be protected at a discounted price.
Which plan to choose?
With Value Plan, you get all basic identity theft protection and credit monitoring features. With the Premier Plan, there are only a few included features, but they are vital for people who are at risk of identity theft or are in the process of building credit. The missing features in Value that are added in Premier are:
- 3-Bureau Credit Changes.
- Bank Account Takeovers.
- Requests to Open Checking or Savings Accounts With Your Information.
- Monthly Credit Score.
These features play an important role and help you act fast if someone tries to steal your identity.
The same features help people who are in the process of building credit. You will be alerted instantly if your credit increase!
And you can get these features for only $10 extra per month!
IdentityForce
IdentityForce is a top-rated company that offers identity theft protection and credit monitoring. With IdentityForce, your personal information will be safe.
Plans:
- UltraSecure: $14.95/mo with discount or $149.50/yr.
- UltraSecure+Credit: $19.95/mo or $199.50/yr
Now IdentityForce offers a big discount!
Both plans contain all identity theft and credit monitoring features. The difference is in the credit section. UltraSecure+Credit plan contains additional credit features that are not included in UltraSecure. Here they are:
- 3 Bureau Credit Monitoring.
- 3 Bureau Credit Reports.
- 3 Bureau Credit Scores.
For only an extra $5 per month, you can get these features. These features are significant for people who are at risk of identity theft or are in the process of building credit.
Identity IQ
IdentityIQ is more expensive than IdentityGuard and IdentityForce, but there are strong reasons for that.
- IdentityIQ offers daily credit monitoring. That is a rare feature that not all big identity theft companies offer.
- ScoreCasterIQ is their advanced feature that helps you build credit. ScoreCasterIQ is a benefit that allows consumers to understand the impact each credit account has on their score. ScoreCasterIQ provides a detailed analysis of the credit report, recommended actions with accounts negatively impacting the score, and an interactive tool to educate and assist with general credit score scenarios.
Here is a list of all features that IdentityIQ offer:
- Instant Access to All 3 Credit Scores.
- ScoreCasterIQ – Premium Benefit!
- Daily 3 Bureau Credit Monitoring.
- Dark web and Identity Monitoring.
- $1,000,000 ID Theft Insurance.
- $25,000 ID Theft Insurance for kids.
- Roadside Assistance.
You get these features for $34.99/mo! To ensure that this is what you want, IdentityIQ offers 7 days trial for only $1.
MyFICO
MyFICO is a genuine company that calculates your FICO score. Many sites offer credit scores, but they are not genuine FICO scores. The main problem with MyFICO is that they are costly.
Plans:
- Monthly 3-bureau credit reports: $39.95/mo.
- Quarterly 3-bureau credit reports: $29.95/mo.
Why is it so expensive?
Because your FICO score is what over 90% of the lender uses to determine your creditworthiness.
Why shouldn’t you pay so much for your FICO score?
- There are many other free ways to get a free FICO score.
- There are many FICO score models, and no one can determine which one your lender would use. So, it could be a waste of money.
- Credit reports use an algorithm that is very close to your FICO score. Although this is not that lenders would use, your credit score that can be found for free or for cheap gives you a great idea of your creditworthiness.
Still, that would be a great choice for those who want to buy their FICO score from MyFICO. In fact, MyFICO offers great service.
Here is a list of all features that are included in MyFICO:
- Updated 3-bureau credit reports.
- With each new 3-bureau credit report, you’ll get access to 28 FICO® Scores—including your most widely used FICO® Score versions and the newly released FICO® Score 9.
- An instant alert of any identified changes to monitored data for your Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax credit reports. Plus, with each new credit alert, you’ll get your most current FICO® Score.
- Lost wallet protection.
- 24/7 identity restoration.
- $1M ID theft insurance.
Credit Sesame
Credit Sesame is very well known for giving a nearly instant credit report and score. But it’s better known for being a completely FREE service to use. Yes, Credit Sesame is FREE credit monitoring! A few years ago, they also became a free identity theft protection service provider. The features are not as comprehensive as what you will get with a paid plan, but you can’t beat the price! Benefits:
- Free
- Instant Credit Score
- Credit Monitoring and Alerts
- $50k Identity Theft Insurance
LifeLock
What does LifeLock offer?
- LifeLock Standard ($9.99/mo). $25,000 Reimbursement for Stolen Funds. SSN and Credit Alerts.
- LifeLock Advantage ($19.99/mo). $100,000 Reimbursement for Stolen Funds. SSN and Credit Alerts. Bank & Credit Card Activity Alerts. Alerts on Crimes in Your Name.
- LifeLock Ultimate Plus ($29.99/mo). $1 Million Reimbursement for Stolen Funds. SSN and Credit Alerts. Bank & Credit Card Activity Alerts. Alerts on Crimes in Your Name. Annual 3 Bureau Credit Reports + Credit Scores. 401(k) & Investment Activity Alerts.
It’s a really close one to call, though. LifeLock offers a lot, and we’ve gone ahead and reviewed every single one of their plans: LifeLock Standard, LifeLock Advantage, LifeLock Ultimate Plus, and LifeLock Junior.
Disclaimer: “Service Guarantee benefits for State of New York members are provided under a Master Insurance Policy issued by State National Insurance Company. Benefits for all other members are provided under a Master Insurance Policy underwritten by United Specialty Insurance Company. Under the “Service Guarantee,” LifeLock will spend up to $1 million to hire experts to help your recovery. Please see the policy for terms, conditions, and exclusions at https://lifelock.com/legal.”
WalletHub
WalletHub is the only site that offers daily credit report updates, credit scores, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection. And it is totally free. Register now, and get it.
They provide a Vantage Score from TransUnion. You should ask how do they make money in case they are free? No reason for this. WalletHub is like CreditKarma and other similar sites offering free credit reports. They make money by showing financial product ads to you. WalletHub pays money to get your free credit report, but they get paid when you sign up for one of the ads they send you. And, of course, you are not required to sign up with any of them. But based on your financial situation, which WalletHub knows, they send you really tailored and great offers.
So, if you register now with WalletHub, here is what you get:
- 100% Free Credit Report, Credit Score, Credit Monitoring, Identity Theft Protection. They pull a credit report from TransUnion, according to the Vantage Score model. It’s not like FICO Score, but it will still work for some of you or give you an idea of your credit report.
- Daily Updated! They are the only company that updates their credit report daily. It’s great for people who are in the process of improving their credit score or people with a high risk of identity theft.
- Customized Credit Improving. Based on your financial situation, WalletHub sends you great tips tailored specifically to your situation.
TransUnion
TransUnion is one of the 3 main credit bureaus in the United States. If you think that you get only their credit score and monitoring by subscribing to TransUnion, you are wrong. TransUnion offers all 3 bureaus scores and monitoring in their plan.
Their service costs $24.95/mo. This is more expensive than IdentityGuard and IdentityForce, but the service that TransUnion offers is great.
Here is a list of all features that are included in their plan:
- UNLIMITED Score & Report access — updates available daily.
- CreditCompass™, which helps you point your score in the right direction.
- Email updates of critical changes for ALL 3 bureaus.
- INSTANT email alerts are sent as soon as TransUnion finds out someone’s applied for credit in your name.
- Lock and Unlock your TransUnion and Equifax Credit Reports.
- Personalized Debt Analysis & Credit Score Trending.
- UNLIMITED toll-free access to ID theft specialists.
- Up to $1,000,000 ID theft insurance.
TrustedID
TrustedID is another big and trusted identity theft protection company.
For your family, you can get:
- Fraud Alerts: to your e-mail and cell phone.
- Internet Privacy Monitoring: including Facebook and Twitter.
- Mail Reduction.
It offers nearly everything that the previous companies do and more, but your family is protected for only $20/month. That’s already a similar price to the other identity theft protection companies.
PrivacyGuard
- Identity Restoration Support. Privacy Guard will help restore your good name in case of fraud.
- Fraud Alerts. You will be alerted to any fraud that is happening through e-mail or SMS messages.
- 3 Bureau Credit Score. You will get access to your credit score from any of the 3 bureaus.
- Lost Wages. If you have to take time off work to restore your identity, they will cover up to $1,500/week in lost wages! However, this rarely happens and is unlikely to happen to you, so you’re unlikely to be able to take advantage of this.
It lacks a coverage plan, but it does offer some decent support and credit monitoring. Best of all, they cover any pay lost.
TransUnion and Equifax lack the support that PG does… but as our review said, PG’s customer support leaves a little to be desired.
They have a free trial, but they’ve been placed at #5 due to the lack of flexibility.
Experian ProtectMyID
We’ve done a ProtectMyID review in the past. However, this identity theft protection company offers a pretty strong value, which places it at #5.
What does it offer, you might ask? For $15.95/month, it has:
- Child identity protection. This is the biggest value here, as most companies will charge extra for another family member. However, ProtectMyID will help you protect your child’s identity for no added cost.
- Lost Wallet Protection. If you lose your wallet with ID cards, medical cards, or credit cards, they will help you cancel your cards and place fraud alerts on your accounts.
They also offer $1 million in coverage, fraud alerts, address change notifications… as well as a seniors (55+) discount. See what they offer!
Equifax
Brought to you by Equifax, a credit reporting bureau that provides credit scores, Identity Patrol is a solid choice overall.
At $16.95 a month, Identity Patrol offers the following:
- Unlimited access to your Equifax credit report. This is big because it allows you to see real-time changes in your score that will allow you to detect fraud happening as soon as it does.
- Easy credit freeze and unfreeze. If you fear fraud, it’s easy to request a credit freeze: simply freeze it on the web. And if you want it unfrozen, that’s just as easy.
- Automatic fraud alerts. If there is any suspicious activity on your credit profile, Equifax Identity Patrol will alert you instantly.
This is a good service to choose from if you have an active credit profile because freezing and unfreezing your credit becomes super easy.
How We Chose The Best Identity Theft Protection?
Listing the 10 best identity theft protection companies is no easy task. While a few are obviously great, many companies have at least a few bad things about them.
We had to assess the identity protection plans based on their core features and the perceived value. For an identity theft company to provide a good service, you need to have certain base features. Some of these include identity monitoring, alerts, credit card monitoring, and lost wallet protection. Not all companies on the top 10 list provided these, but those with more to offer (without overcharging) got ranked higher.
If you have a personal experience with any of these companies below, please comment and share it with the rest of our readers!
About Identity Theft Protection Companies
If you’ve meant to safeguard your identity, but you’re still a little lost …, then these frequently asked questions will come in very handy. Again, you’re welcome to comment below if there’s anything that has yet to be answered here!
Is free identity theft protection really worth it?
If you aren’t paying for the protection, you will not have the same level of safety. The free protection plan will only safeguard you from certain identity theft risks. Then you are left with many ‘points of failure’ exposed. It’s best to invest in a premium identity protection plan to secure as many weak spots as possible. Yet, there are no guarantees, which is why you want to be covered with a ‘service guarantee’ or ‘identity theft insurance’ as well.
How do these paid services prevent identity theft?
There is no way to guarantee that your identity will stay safe just because you use any of these premium protection services. They can only enhance the number of safeguards you have that work against common identity theft tactics. From there, you can fall back on the service guarantee, insurance, or stolen funds replacement policy to remove liabilities. This is when a paid service comes in handy as it eliminates the need to spend countless hours trying to recover your identity.
What are the most common identity protection features?
When you invest in identity prevention services, there are certain features that you can almost always expect. This includes identity monitoring alerts.
How much does identity monitoring cost?
An identity monitoring plan typically costs between $7.50 and $15 per month. There are some advanced plans that price around $20 monthly instead. If you’re looking to get coverage that includes credit monitoring features, then you’re looking at the $20 to $30 per month price range. Adding a minor could cost anywhere from nothing to $5.99 a month from most providers.
Should you buy a plan that has credit monitoring?
Identity theft protection plans that include credit monitoring are a great investment. They give you the added security of identity monitoring, which watches for any signs of identity theft. If something is detected, your credit accounts will be protected more closely. Therefore, the two monitoring types work together to ensure your identity (and financial accounts) stay safe.
