There’s nothing more precious than your private information, and in our Identity Guard review, we’ll tell you more about how you can keep it safe. Since identity theft is a common occurrence, many companies devote considerable time to securing people’s IDs. Identity Guard is one such company, and today we want to share with you what it can do to help you.
Identity Guard provides identification protection services, alerts, monitoring, and much more. It offers both individual and family plans and reimbursement insurance in the case a theft does occur.
What Makes Identity Guard Stand Out
Identity Guard ratings are high, and the reason behind it is that the company utilizes the IBM artificial intelligence software that takes monitoring to the next level. The company offers comprehensive membership plans and prides itself on quick responses to potential risks.
Pros
- IBM Watson AI
- Family plans
- Supports multiple platforms and devices
- Great support
- Insurance
- Mobile app
Cons
- No free trial
- Limited working hours for customer support
About Identity Guard
Identity Guard has been on the market since 2001. It was founded by Intersections Inc. with headquarters in Virginia, US. The Identity Guard A+ reviews on BBB show that the company’s services are extraordinary. It utilizes the power of artificial intelligence to scan the web for complex information about its users. This AI is the main feature that keeps Identity Guard among the best in the industry.
A team of dedicated personal case managers will always be there to react and help you recover your identity and fight the consequences of lost personal information. Among other things, Identity Guard offers:
- Threat alerts
- Dark web monitoring
- Up to $1 million insurance
- Investment monitoring
Identity Guard Price and Plans
The company provides pricing plans grouped into two main options: personal and business. These plans are then further sectioned based on the level of security you want to achieve.
Prices for personal plans are:
Value:
- Member – $7.50 per month
- Family – $12.50 per month
Total:
- Member – $16.67 per month
- Family – $25 per month
Ultra:
- Member – $25 per month
- Family – $33.33 per month
No free trial is offered by the company, but you might be able to find some coupon codes online.
You can find Identity guard plans for business owners on a separate page, and they include two data breach response options:
Value:
- Individual – $36 per year
- Family – $76 per year
Total protection:
- Individual – $120 per year
- Family – $264 per year
If you’re not satisfied with your annual subscription, you’re eligible for a refund within the first 30 days of purchase, while monthly subscriptions are not.
Identity Guard Services
Identity Guard offers the following services for individuals and families.
IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence
We’ll start the review of individual features with the Identity Guard Watson AI. Before the internet, your personal information consisted of physical numbers and letters found on your IDs, credit cards, and physical phone books. Today, your personal information has its own digital footprint.
In this case, IBM Watson can be of service. This artificial intelligence can scan, monitor, and process billions of pieces of information and notify you of any identity threats. It’s powered by modern machine learning models that help it learn more with less data.
Fund Reimbursement
Another reason Identity Guard is one of the best identity protection services is that it offers $1 million identity theft insurance. If you report your identity stolen within 90 days of it happening and comply with the company’s policies, you can receive the insurance. If you have another insurance policy, however, it must be billed before Identity Guard.
US-Based Dedicated Case Manager
Identity Guard also offers the services of a dedicated case manager. This person can help you in restoring your personal information and be with you along the way.
Risk Management Score
Another reason Identity Guard reviews are highly rated is the risk management report. It shows the likelihood of becoming a victim of identity theft which is accessed through the dashboard. Here, you can keep track of changes, see alerts, watchlists, and read reports and scores.
Personal Information on the Dark Web
It’s possible for hackers to sell your personal information on the dark web, allowing criminals to mask their identity with yours. Identity Guard will scan the dark web and detect your SSN, credit card numbers, health insurance numbers, and other valuable data.
Based on identity theft protection reviews, this feature is essential to keep your data protected all over the internet and prevent criminals from earning off your personal information.
High-Risk Transactions
High-risk transactions are situations where the customer is harder to authenticate, such as online purchases or transactions where credit card numbers are shared over the phone or email. These types of transactions come with a higher risk of identity theft, and the best identity protection is prevention. Identity Guard monitors your accounts and alerts you of any unusual or suspicious activity.
Bank Account Takeovers
Bank account takeovers happen when a cybercriminal obtains your login credentials and gets into your bank account to steal funds. These crimes are on the rise, but with Identity Guard, you’ll know if anything happens to your bank account, and you’ll be able to react appropriately.
3-Bureau Credit Changes
Being one of the best tools for credit protection, Identity Guard offers to monitor changes to your credit rating. Depending on your plan, it can cover one or three bureaus (Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion) and includes quarterly or monthly reports.
These reports show up on the dashboard, but some users complained that they never received any alert from Identity Guard, while other monitoring tools showed something was going on.
Credit and Debit Card Monitoring
Like with credit changes, credit and debit card monitoring allows you to become aware of any unusual activity happening immediately on your accounts. The Identity Guard credit card monitoring feature even sends out alerts if your address gets detected on a form.
401k and Investment Monitoring
Besides your information, investments are another valuable asset. Identity Guard can help you keep your 401k and investments protected with instant alerts on suspicious transactions.
Requests to Open Checking/Savings Accounts
Scammers can attempt to create a bank account using your data. Identity Guard will send an alert whenever someone applies for a new account at any national, regional, or local bank across the US. That is another reason you’ll enjoy the best identity theft protection from Identity Guard.
Safe Browsing Extension
There’s no doubt you spend a lot of your time online, and connecting to the internet can be the moment when your data is most vulnerable. With the Identity Guard browser extension, you can protect your privacy and secure your browsing experience.
The browser extension features include:
- Anti-phishing protects against phishing sites in real-time
- Adblocker removes ads and provides a smooth browsing experience
- The social privacy manager presents you with simple social media privacy settings and 1-click protection button
- Identity Guard extension offers total protection since it changes the unsecured HTTP connections to HTTPS
- Flash blocker removes flash content
- Tracking protection deletes trackers
- Privacy check helps you remove information from people search platforms
- Mining protection warns you if there’s a mining script detected
This extension is available with all plans. We believe that it could be offered separately for free, but we also get why the company charges for it. It’s a comprehensive tool that puts another layer of safety between you and the internet.
Identity Guard App
Your mobile device plays a huge role in your life, and it also contains a lot of personal information. Information can leak from your phone without you even noticing, and in those cases, how fast you react makes a huge difference in recovery. Identity Guard provides the most powerful identity theft protection application on the market, and it’s available for Android and iOS devices.
This app uses artificial intelligence to scour information, discover vulnerabilities, and immediately alert you of any signs of unusual activity.
Social Insight Report
A great feature we discovered in our Identity Guard review was the social insight report. Using the Watson AI technology, it analyzes your social media accounts to grade your online image. It can suggest changes that can help you improve your online presence and remain safe on social platforms.
Your Child’s Information on the Dark Web and Cyberbullying
Children have a clean slate. They don’t have credit scores, and their Social Security number can be untraceable for a more extended period. Thieves can create new credit accounts, get driver’s licenses, jobs, or even purchase homes and vehicles with your child’s SSN without you ever knowing.
The Identity Guard Family plan includes this additional feature that individual plans don’t offer.
Children can be compromised in school as well. School records contain sensitive information and are easy to access, and many children post unfiltered personal information on social media that can be useful to hackers. With Identity Guard, you’ll know whether someone has targeted your child, and you’ll have the necessary backup to resolve this issue if it occurs.
Identity Guard for Business
Identity Guard plans aren’t limited to individuals and families. The company also provides the tools you need to prepare for a data breach event and protect your employees from identity theft.
If you’ve already been a victim of a data breach, the Identity Guard team can become your trusted partner and handle the event with ease. These are some of the features provided, depending on your membership:
- ID verification alerts
- ID vault password protection
- Account access via mobile app
- PC keyboard encryption software
- PC antivirus
Identity Guard Customer Service
What we find disappointing is the lack of chatbots or live support on the official website. Having an online chat can be helpful for both potential users and the company. That being said, if you have any questions, you’ll have to call the team.
The support reps are in the US, and the working hours are:
- Monday – Friday: 8 AM to 11 PM EST
- Saturday: 9 AM to 6 PM EST
- Sunday: closed
News and Insights and FAQ pages are also available should you face any difficulties.
According to Identity Guard reviews and consumer reports, users are satisfied with their purchases and how the company takes care of them. There were no specific negative experiences with any aspect of the customer support team, but other reviews claimed that the support was minimal. It’s unclear if those reviewers went through the process of creating an account, though, so that might be the reason for the reduced response.
Still, if you have any trouble with your account, the only way to reach customer support is by calling.
Summary
Identity theft is a serious crime that can leave devastating impacts on its victims, and Identity Guard is here to help. According to our Identity Guard review, this company provides great tools and services designed to minimize the risk of ID theft and prevent crimes before they even happen.
Choose from a wide selection of services and plans and get the protection that you really want. Feel secure knowing that cutting-edge artificial intelligence is monitoring your name, personal identifiers, and accounts.
Even though advanced plans can be costly, there’s no free trial, and the company has no live chat available. Still, Identity Guard has shown itself to be one of the best in the industry, and customers agree.
People Also Ask
Is Identity Guard worth it?
Considering the comprehensiveness of the features and the importance of personal information, Identity Guard is more than worth it. In today’s digital world, private data is more valuable than ever, and there are plenty of criminals looking to take advantage of unsuspecting people.
Identity Guard keeps watch, so you can go about your regular life without obsessively checking your accounts. Rest easy knowing that someone is tracking whether your name has been used or accounts have been altered. This company uses cutting-edge AI technology to guard your important data and provides identity theft insurance in the case that an attack is successful.
Is Identity Guard safe?
Identity Guard’s mission is to protect people’s personal and sensitive information, and it strives to ensure the safety of its services. It’s transparent about how it cares for your information and allows an opt-out option to keep your data from being sold to third-party contributors.
When it comes to the product itself, Identity Guard is easy to use. Upon creating your account and setting up watchlists, you can even test it out yourself to see how you’ll receive the notification. In addition, few people complained that the company is not as advertised, meaning it’s safe and customer-validated.
Does Identity Guard offer a VPN?
Unfortunately, Identity Guard doesn’t come with a VPN included. It offers a browser extension, which has some features of a VPN, such as ad-blocking or anti-phishing protection. If you’re looking for a VPN feature, there are many other products to consider pairing with Identity Guard’s services.
Which is better, LifeLock or Identity Guard?
Even though both companies offer similar tools, some differences make each product more suitable for specific users. LifeLock is for tech-savvy consumers and high-income earners and comes with an Antivirus program as well. LifeLock offers a free trial and offers additional methods of reaching out to customer support.
On the other hand, Identity Guard utilizes the power of Watson AI. It’s known to be the most comprehensive identity theft service out there, and it’s great for individuals and families. Based on the reviews, users are satisfied, even though customer support has limited working hours.
Does Identity Guard protect your Social Security number?
Your Social Security Number, combined with other data, can be used to open credit card accounts or take out loans. Having your SSN used to apply for loans and credit applications damages your credit score and is the first indicator of identity theft. Identity Guard offers Social Security Number monitoring to help secure your most precious information.
The company scans information on the dark web, online chat rooms, forums, and more to alert you if any breach has occurred with your information. Early detection is an essential measure in protecting against identity fraud.
Does Identity Guard use FICO scores?
FICO is an analytics software company known for providing credit scores that financial institutions use in decision-making. It can show whether you have a good credit score and history. The credit score report from Identity Guard is not the same as a FICO one. The company will send you the summary of credit scored from one or three credit bureaus, depending on your membership plan. These credit scores are more accurate than FICO, and if you have any doubts about using this company, revisit our Identity Guard review or head over to its official website to learn more.
