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There are several things you can do for free to protect your identity, such as frequently checking your bank and credit card statements, monitoring free credit reports and issuing a fraud alert. But being vigilant about it can be a time-consuming endeavor, which is what makes an identity-theft-protection service an appealing option for many. For a monthly fee, these services will monitor your personal information and alert you if suspicious or fraudulent activity is occurring.
Based on our more than three months of testing, the best identity-theft-protection service is LifeLock Ultimate Plus. LifeLock offers comprehensive monitoring of your financial activity and personal information, and provides monthly updates to your credit scores and reports. The service also delivers extensive email and SMS notifications. No other service provided protection that was as robust.
[On July 21, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission filed a legal complaint alleging that LifeLock had not met its obligations under a 2010 agreement with the agency. At the time of this writing, the specific reasons for the complaint were sealed by a federal court. Until we learn more, Tom's Guide stands by its review of LifeLock Ultimate Plus.]
Are identity theft protection services really worth the cost? Our answer is yes — particularly if you know your personal information has been compromised due to a data breach or other leak. You can (and should) keep a close eye on your credit card and other financial information, but it will take lots of your time and energy to determine whether someone has opened a line of credit in your name if you aren't using one of these services.
How We Tested and Rated
Our testing and analysis focused on how well each service monitors three main areas: your credit reports, your financial activity and your personal information. We rated each service for the amount of information that each provides about your credit report and whether or not they display your credit score. (Free annual credit reports don't include your credit score.)
We also gave extra weight to services that offer tools to help you improve your credit score. We penalized services that do not display your credit report for all three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian), or that charge you a fee to see your credit score.
We also rated each service for the number of credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts that it monitors. We paid particular attention to whether or not the service provides email or SMS notifications for the following events: if there were large changes to our account balance or if we incurred large expenses on our credit card.
We penalized services that didn't allow us to add personal information beyond our Social Security number, such as our driver's license number, phone number or multiple email addresses. Each can also be used to steal your identity. We gave extra points to services that detected any compromised personal information.
Finally, we gave a service extra points if it provided tools and utilities, and penalized services that did not offer any identity-theft insurance policy.
Our testing period lasted three months. To test the services, we made large purchases using our credit card and moved large amounts of money into and out of our bank account. We also opted into email, SMS and phone alerts (when applicable), and regularly checked our credit reports to monitor any changes.
LifeLock Ultimate Plus: Best Overall
At $29.99 per month, LifeLock Ultimate Plus is the priciest plan we've reviewed, but it also provides the most comprehensive protection, with robust monitoring of your personal information and financial activity, monthly credit reports and scores from all three credit bureaus, and frequent email and SMS alerts. Unlike other services, LifeLock doesn't offer a traditional $1 million identity-theft insurance policy, but the company will spend up to $1 million on legal fees, application fees and other expenses to restore your identity.
Credit Scores and Reports: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion
Financial Activity Alerts: Email and SMS
Identity Protection Alerts: Email, SMS and Phone
Insurance: None (LifeLock will spend up to $1,000,000 in restoration)
Financial Activity Alerts: Email and SMS
Identity Protection Alerts: Email, SMS and Phone
Insurance: None (LifeLock will spend up to $1,000,000 in restoration)
IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit: Runner-Up
IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit was a close contender for our Editor's Choice award because it provides excellent protection at a reasonable monthly rate. For $18.95 per month, IdentityForce offers monthly credit scores and reports from all three credit bureaus, robust personal-information protection and a host of helpful utilities such as a credit-score simulator and anti-keylogging software. However, it doesn't provide the same level of financial-activity monitoring as LifeLock, and it rarely sent us email or SMS notifications.
Credit Scores and Reports: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email and SMS
Insurance: $1,000,000
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email and SMS
Insurance: $1,000,000
Identity Guard Platinum
Identity Guard Platinum is an excellent identity-theft-protection service. It offers monthly tri-bureau credit scores and reports and a bevy of utilities such as a credit-score analyzer, anti-keylogging software and an antimalware suite. However, at $24.95 per month, Identity Guard Platinum is almost as expensive as LifeLock Ultimate Plus, yet provides less-robust personal-information protection and financial-activity monitoring. For that price, we recommend LifeLock Ultimate Plus.
Credit Scores and Reports: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email and SMS
Insurance: $1,000,000
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email and SMS
Insurance: $1,000,000
LegalShield ID Premium
At $29.95 per month, LegalShield ID Premium costs as much as LifeLock Ultimate Plus, but offers only a fraction of the features. LegalShield provides only your monthly TransUnion credit score and report (Equifax and Experian aren't included) and doesn't offer financial-activity alerts. Furthermore, the service doesn't include an identity-theft insurance policy. In the event that you're the victim of identity theft, LegalShield will provide unlimited consultation with Kroll, a corporate investigations firm, but you won't be reimbursed if any money is stolen from your accounts.
Credit Scores and Reports: TransUnion only
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email
Insurance: None
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email
Insurance: None
ProtectMyID
Despite its affordable price, ProtectMyID from Experian falls short of the competition. Unlike the other identity-theft-protection services we reviewed, ProtectMyID charges you a fee to see your credit scores and reports ($9.95 for single bureau, $31.95 for tri-bureau). The service's personal-information and financial-activity monitoring is rudimentary compared to those of other services. On the positive side, ProtectMyID will alert you if a credit report is issued in your child's name.
Credit Scores and Reports: None
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email and SMS
Insurance: $1,000,000
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: Email and SMS
Insurance: $1,000,000
AllClear ID Pro
AllClear ID Pro is the least expensive of the identity-theft-protection services we tested, but it also offers the fewest features. The service monitors your credit score with all three credit bureaus, but doesn't provide your monthly credit scores or reports. Furthermore, it provides only minimal monitoring of your financial activity and personal information. AllClear ID's login security is the most robust of all of the services we reviewed, but this doesn't offset its bare-bones feature set.
Credit Scores and Reports: None (tri-bureau monitoring, but score not visible)
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: SMS and Phone
Financial Activity Alerts: None
Identity Protection Alerts: SMS and Phone
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