Latchkey Recommends · Identity protection
Identity protection services: what they do, what a credit freeze does better, and who should pay
Who this is for: People whose data has been in a breach (that is, everyone), and families who want someone watching when they cannot.
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The honest version
The best identity protection is free: freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, get an IRS Identity Protection PIN, claim your Social Security account, and turn on transaction alerts at your bank. That takes thirty minutes.
Paid services add monitoring (alerts when your details show up somewhere), restoration help (a person who makes the calls if it happens), and insurance for some recovery costs. That is worth paying for in two cases: for a parent who will not manage alerts, and for anyone who would rather pay than do the thirty minutes.
How we tested
We enrolled in the major services, triggered alerts with test events, and timed the restoration help with a real call. We scored alert usefulness, restoration quality, family coverage, three-year cost and what the company does with the data it collects to protect you.
Product reviews for this category publish as they complete testing.
Questions people ask
- Does identity protection stop identity theft?
- No. Monitoring services tell you after something has happened. A credit freeze prevents new accounts from being opened at all. Do the freeze; consider monitoring on top of it.
- Is the insurance worth anything?
- The "$1 million identity theft insurance" covers certain recovery expenses, not stolen money in most cases. Read the policy before you count on it.