by Calvin Fellows
Topic: ID Theft
> 3 min read
Lifelock is an all-inclusive identity theft and device security service. This is the most comprehensive service offered by the 2 providers.
ProtectMyID is an excellent choice for AAA members who want to monitor their credit files and score. It’s a good choice for people on a budget or someone looking for basic protection.
If someone obtains your credit card or bank account information, they can wreak havoc on your finances and creditworthiness. Someone could take a huge loan in your name, leaving you with a hefty debt burden. According to Javelin, identity fraud cases cost $16.9 billion in 2019. That's why people are turning to identity protection tools to safeguard their personal and financial information.
In this LifeLock vs. ProtectMyID review, we’ll walk you through the products’ ID security capabilities to help you pick the option that fits your situation. Our assessment focuses on cybersecurity, credit monitoring, personal information surveillance, and identity fraud restoration services.
LifeLock vs. ProtectMyID: Comparison
WHAT YOU GET | LIFELOCK | PROTECTMYID |
|---|---|---|
Pricing | ||
Coverage | ||
Personal Information Monitoring | ||
Credit Monitoring | ||
Fraud Resolution | ||
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Similarities
Differences
LifeLock Features and Services
Personal Information Monitoring
LifeLock identity theft protection service tracks a trillion data points daily, checking actual and illegal databases for any fraudulent use of your personal information, including name, SSN, birthdate, and address. The service scans court records to alert you in case somebody committed a crime in your name. With child protection, you’ll receive timely SMS, email, or phone alerts when somebody commits fraud using your child’s name.
Credit Monitoring
LifeLock credit monitoring minimizes potential financial damage when somebody uses your identity to access bank loans. The service includes instant alerts in case of a fraudulent credit line opening in your name. With their monthly and annual VantageScore updates, you can assess your creditworthiness and spot any suspicious hikes or drops in your credit score.
Fraud Resolution
After discovering any illegal use of your name by a third-party to commit a crime, create a bank account, or take out a loan, LifeLock helps minimize damage and reclaim your identity. Here, your options include activating a LifeLock Identity Lock to prevent further abuse of your name. LifeLock also helps with replacing your lost or stolen debit or credit card, and a company agent guides you through ID fraud resolution.
Plans and Pricing
LifeLock Standard
Standard is the cheapest of all LifeLock plans, costing $8.33/month (paid annually) or $9.99/month (paid monthly).
Select
The second-tier plan costs the same as the Standard option the first year--8.33/month (paid annually) or $9.99/month (paid monthly). But it includes Norton 360 security, and its renewal cost is higher than that of the lowest-tier plan.
Advantage
This plan costs $16.67/month (paid annually) or $19.99 per month (paid monthly). It includes Norton 360 services.
Ultimate Plus
This plan has all the others’ ID protection features plus home title monitoring, 3-bureau credit reports/scores, and more device protection services. It costs $25.00 per month (annual billing) and $29.99 per month (monthly subscription).
Pros and Cons
PROS
CONS
More about its products and services
Competitors:
Eversafe vs LifeLock: Web scanning technology
MYIDCare and LifeLock features
Which Gives Better Activity Alerts
ProtectMyID Features and Services
Personal Information Monitoring
AAA has partnered with Experian to add you to its internet scouring platform that continually scans the internet and dark web for your personal information such as your birthday, Social Security number, and address. If the software finds your data being used or exchanged, you’ll receive alerts from the ProtectMyID app and be able to take action.
Through Experian, AAA offers 3 different packages, each of which has different ProtectMyID identity theft monitoring levels. The Platinum package is more comprehensive than the Deluxe or Essential packages, while each focuses on your credit files, scores, and reports.
Credit Monitoring
All 3 packages offer comprehensive ProtectMyID credit monitoring and alerts. The only difference between the Premium package provides 3-bureau credit monitoring, where the Plus plan only includes tracking your credit file with Experian.
A unique feature ProtectMyID has for all three packages is the Credit Lock. Its web-based application allows you to lock your credit file, which keeps anyone from opening accounts or initiating loans in your name. If you need a new account or loan, you simply unlock your file until you’re done, then lock it back up again.
Fraud Resolution
It can be difficult and time-consuming to resolve the problems that follow identity theft. AAA uses Experian’s U.S.-based specialists to guide you through the process of recovering from a theft.
Pricing and Plans
Essential
ProtectMyID Essential is the basic package. Free to AAA members, the Essential package covers internet and dark web surveillance, ID theft insurance, and lost wallet assistance.
Deluxe
If you subscribe to AAA, you'll receive everything in the Essential package, plus monitoring for your financial and social media accounts for $10.95 per month. Additionally, if your information is entered into court records or used for payday lending, you’ll be notified via the app.
With Deluxe, you’ll be able to place a fraud alert on your credit file that will signal lenders that extra identity verification measures need to be taken. You can add children to your plan for an additional $3.95 per month.
Platinum
The Platinum plan will cost AAA members $15.95 per month. The plan includes all the lower tier plans’ features but adds monitoring of payday lenders, sex-offender records, and credit limit and usage alerts.
Pros and Cons
PROS
CONS
More important things about ProtectMyID
Conclusion
Protecting your identity and those of your family members is an essential part of modern life. There is so much to monitor and track that it can become challenging to stay on top of it. As your life changes or your family grows, it becomes even more so.
Lifelock has put together a very comprehensive identity protection package. Its plans might be more expensive, but it offers you more security and peace of mind than the AAA ProtectMyID plans when the benefits are combined.
Lifelock lets you monitor all your accounts and all your family members’ identities in one convenient app while securing your devices at the same time. Children and teenagers are particularly vulnerable to identity theft because of the ease with which thieves can attract them through malware and social media account deceit.
Both providers offer notification services for credit file and credit score changes. Ultimately, this can be done by consumers themselves; however, the ability to secure all of your family’s devices while protecting their identities and provide 24-hour support were the deciding factors in this comparison.
Lifelock gives you and your family the identity theft protection and monitoring it needs in an era where our lives and identities are tied to our devices and the internet. Thieves are relentless in pursuing your identity— Lifelock allows you to be just as determined in defending yourself.
Read more about Identity Theft Protection Report
About the Author
Calvin Fellows is a former military security agent and police detective who headed security administration. Calvin is experienced and knowledgeable in all avenues of personal and corporate security, and is dedicated to educating people on how to preempt any physical or cyber security attacks before they happen.
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