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IDnotify vs Equifax: Identity Protection Compared

Based on our extensive testing, we have found that for most people, Identity Guard is the best identity theft protection service.

by Keith Morris

Topic:  ID Theft

> 1 min read

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An excellent choice for a large family that needs identity protection. It is a bit more expensive for a family to purchase and lacks the extra reimbursement of Equifax.

  • Build a plan that fits your life and your family
  • Comprehensive scanning and monitoring
  • $1 million in identity insurance for fees and stolen funds
 We Recommend Identity GuardSign Up Now

An all-inclusive credit and identity protection for individuals and smaller families. Provides up to $2 million in identity restoration and insurance protection.

  • $1 million in identity restoration, and $1 million in insurance for fees
  • Credit monitoring by a credit bureau eliminates the middle-man
  • Choose a plan that fits your needs
 We Recommend Identity GuardSign Up Now

Modern life is full of twists and turns. Some have always been present, and some have only popped up as technology has advanced. Our identities have become easy targets for thieves due to the online presence most people have. We all have social media accounts, emails, and merchant accounts — on average, Americans have 90 online accounts that thieves can tap into for information.

We need to do everything we can to ensure we secure our identities as much as possible. There are many actions we can take to deter identity theft or react more quickly. In IDnotify vs. Equifax, we’ll dive into each brand’s features and explore what makes one better than the other.

IDNotify vs. Equifax: Comparison

WHAT YOU GET

IDNOTIFY

EQUIFAX

Pricing

 We Recommend Identity Guard
We Recommend Identity Guard

Coverage

  • 2 adults and up to 10 children
  • 2 adults and up 4 children

Insurance

  • Up to $1 million to cover fees and expenses
  • Up to $1 million for fees and expenses

Identity Theft Protection

  • Internet and dark web scanning
  • Social network monitoring
  • Court record and change of address monitoring
  • Social Security monitoring
  • Credit report locking
  • Internet and dark web scanning
  • Equifax credit score monitoring
  • Fraud alerts

Identity Restoration

  • Full-service support experts do much of the work for you.
  • Lost wallet services replace wallet contents
  • Full restoration support experts do much of the work for you.
  • Lost wallet services replace wallet contents.

Credit Monitoring

  • 1- or 3-Experian credit monitoring
  • Monthly credit snapshot
  • Alerts for credit limits, utilization, and balance
  • 3-bureau credit monitoring under top-tier plans
  • Equifax monitoring, daily scores, and reports

QUICK FACE-OFF

Similarities

  • You can provide identity protection for your entire family, including your children.
  • Affordable rates mean adding children doesn’t become a financial burden.
  • Scanning technology scours the internet and dark web for your information, ensuring it is not being exchanged or used.
  • Full-service identity restoration support helps you restore your identity quicker than on your own.
  • Theft insurance provides up to $1 million in expenses. 
  • Expenses can include any out-of-pocket expenses that occur because of the theft.
  • You can have your credit file monitored at all 3 credit bureaus for inquiries initiated by merchants if someone tries to use your credit.
  • Court records can be scanned for your information, ensuring that no one uses your name to commit crimes or alter legal documents.
  • Choose from 3 plans to cover the needs of individuals or family members.
  • Each has a useful application that can assist in receiving alerts and monitoring your credit or accounts.
  • Daily scans of your credit reports.
  • Lost wallet assistance helps you if your wallet is stolen or lost. Both providers help replace your contents and freeze the credit and debit cards that were in it.
  • Applications are plagued by persistent problems, causing alerts not to occur or credit file locking not to work.

Differences

  • IDnotify monitors your social media accounts and sends you notices of privacy violations, unethical conduct towards you or your family.
  • Equifax provides an additional $ 1 million in coverage for stolen funds.
  • IDnotify doesn’t have an option to lock and unlock your credit file to prevent unauthorized access.
  • Equifax provides fraud alerts, activated by you, that let merchants know that they should thoroughly verify a customer’s identification in all of their plans.
    IDnotify provides alerts for real-time authorization alerts, but only in the top-tier plan.
  • No option to monitor financial accounts by Equifax.
  • Equifax doesn’t offer any social media account scanning.
  • Multi- and bi-lingual support is supplied by IDnotify, necessary for non-English speaking customers.
  • IDnotify recovery experts are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; Equifax operates 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday-Friday.
  • You have to pay extra to add children to your plan with IDnotify. 
  • IDnotify 3 different plans you can select from. You can add a family option and add 10 children where Equifax will only cover 4 children. Build a plan that works for you and your growing family.
  • IDnotify is more expensive than Equifax but provides slightly more scanning services.
  • Equifax provides more expense and fund coverage at a lower price.

IDnotify Features and Services

Coverage

IDnotify has comprehensive plans that can be used to protect your family members’ identities. You can purchase a plan for yourself and then add family protection to that plan. If you have children, you can add a child protection plan for an additional fee covering up to 10 children.

Insurance

Identity theft insurance provides reimbursement of expenses that you incur as a result of having your identity stolen. If it happens, you’ll need lawyers, identity theft experts in addition to those provided by the plan, and recovered document fees.

The insurance provides up to $1 million in coverage for the costs and fees, including reimbursement of stolen funds.

Identity Theft Protection and Restoration

Protections provided by IDnotify come in the form of internet surveillance and social network monitoring. Your Social Security number is traced for use depending on the plan, and court records are scanned for your information.

Identity restoration assistance is managed, which means that IDnotify’s experts do everything they can, including paperwork and phone calls, if necessary, to help you get your identity back.

Credit Monitoring

The 3 credit bureaus each have a file that contains your credit history. Your file is monitored for changes or inquiries, and you’ll receive alerts if any incidents are found. Credit inquiries are initiated by merchants that check someone’s credit. If your file receives an inquiry not created by you, someone is using your information.

Plans and Pricing

Essential

The Essential plan covers basic identity protection needs. The internet and dark web are scanned, and your credit is monitored. You receive insurance and restoration services along with lost wallet assistance. The Essential plan costs $9.99 per month, plus $10 for a family and $5 for up to 10 children.

Select

The middle-tier plan adds address monitoring, court record monitoring along with an annual credit report, and your monthly Vantage score. The plan runs $17.99 per month, and the addition of a family and children costs $10 and $5, respectively.

Premier

The IDnotify family plan, Premier, adds 3-bureau credit file monitoring, credit snapshots, a credit score simulator, and payday loan monitoring. You’ll also receive financial account monitoring and alerts and 7 other monitoring and alert services through the IDnotify app. The plan costs $25.99 per month and can be upgraded for family and children.

Pros and Cons

PROS

  • Tailor each plan to your needs, and add family and children as needed.
  • The lowest-tier plan has enough protection for people that self-monitor their identity.
  • Automated identity monitoring scans 24 hours a day so that you don’t have to.
  • Saves time with technology, letting you get back to your life without the constant worry.
  • Children’s identities are safe as well, and they also receive insurance coverage.
  • Identity restoration is difficult on your own. The experts provided do most of it for you.
  • A large family on the Premier plan is less expensive than many other plans available.
  • The provided theft identity insurance is becoming necessary for modern living.

CONS

  • Our devices carry all of our information. IDnotify doesn’t offer any device protection.
  • No virtual private network for browsing anonymously for extra security.
  • No protection prevents identity theft from occurring; it merely alerts you to react.
  • Services do not protect your identity; they only monitor it.
  • No option to freeze your credit file through IDnotify’s services.
  • Out-of-pocket expenses are included in the insurance limitations with stolen fund replacement.
  • The lowest-tier plan is very meager and should at least include theft insurance.
  • Most of the monitoring you can do for free through your bank account and credit file.
  • Your bank account may have theft insurance provided. Check before purchasing a plan.

Equifax Features and Services

Coverage

Equifax’s protection plans cover up to 2 adults and 4 children. However, you must purchase the family plan for your family to be covered. The Premier and Family plans have the exact same features, except for adding family members. 

Insurance

In each plan, you receive up to $1 million in insurance coverage for expenses related to identity theft. The $1 million covers lawyer’s fees, expert fees, document replacement, and other fees.

Identity Theft Protection and Restoration

You receive $1 million in stolen fund reimbursement with each plan. You have to ensure you’re communicating with Equifax to be reimbursed because they have strict deadlines for filing reports that must be met.

Equifax has experts ready to assist you in restoring your identity. They’ll help you with the tasks and even do the paperwork for you. The Essential plan is the only plan that doesn’t include identity restoration services.

Credit Monitoring

Nearly all three plans are the same regarding credit monitoring except for the Essential plan, where you don’t receive credit scores. Otherwise, you receive 3-bureau reports, scores, and file monitoring.

You’ll receive alerts via the Equifax app if any of your credit files are accessed and can freeze your credit file from the free app. You can unfreeze it anytime you need to access your credit, then lock it up again.

Pricing and Plans

IDPatrol

In the lowest tier plan from Equifax, you receive everything except credit scores and restoration services. IDPatrol costs $16.95 per month and includes theft insurance, fund replacement, and internet scanning.

Premier

The Premier plan adds credit scores and identity restoration services for $19.95 per month. 

Family

The Equifax family plan includes all the features offered by the company. The only difference is that you can add one more adult and up to four children. All family members will receive the same benefits through your plan. Children’s credit files are automatically locked to keep them from being accessed by anyone.

Pros and Cons

PROS

  • Even the lowest-tier plan has a ton of identity theft protection features.
  • The user-friendly app lets you lock and unlock your file and receive alerts.
  • Expert restoration assistance speeds up the recovery process.
  • Lost wallet protection helps you replace the contents quickly.
  • Stolen fund replacement and insurance are 2 distinct features.
  • Automated identity monitoring scans 24 hours a day so that you don’t have to.
  • Saves time with technology, letting you get back to your life without the constant worry.
  • Children’s identities are secured as well, and they also are covered by the insurance coverage.
  • Two plans make deciding between the features simple.

CONS

  • Families with more than 4 children will need to find another plan.
  • Identity restoration should be available for the lowest-tier plan.
  • Plans are focused more on credit and less on identity restoration.
  • Technically there are only 2 plan choices, which minimizes the options for consumers.
  • There is no device protection, such as antivirus, offered
  • A virtual private network is not offered through Equifax.
  • Most of the monitoring you can do for free through your bank account and credit file.
  • Your bank account may have theft insurance provided.
  • Check before purchasing a plan.
  • There is no option for monitoring financial accounts, investments, or retirement funds.

Conclusion

 We Recommend Identity GuardSign Up Now

IDnotify and Equifax have very similar features and benefits in their identity protection suites. Each one offers multiple features for monitoring your credit and receiving alerts, but only 1 has an option to help you monitor your financial accounts.

Equifax provides more restoration insurance in the form of stolen funds, but IDnotify scans public records and court documents for your information. We are disappointed to see that neither of the companies offers any assistance in securing your devices since all of our data is stored on them. An antivirus suite and VPN would add an extra measure of security for consumers.

You can lock and unlock your credit file for free, get reports and talk to the bureaus when you need help. It is helpful to have our credit files, credit reports, and financial accounts monitored for us. Still, it seems more beneficial to assist with the costs of recovering from identity theft.

We choose Equifax over IDnotify, due to the separation of stolen fund replacement and restoration fees. In the end, no one can prevent identity theft no matter how much is monitored. The only thing we can do is recover, and Equifax has better plans to assist with that.

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About the Author

Keith Morris is a 20+ year veteran of the security game, with the knowledge and experience to set you on the right track toward personal safety and security. His firm is committed to giving you the tools and know-how to combat any threat to your safety.

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