Identity theft is an ever-growing issue. Government mandates on data security have come in but they're still shockingly lax, as we learn sometimes during a particularly ugly breach of medical data. It's reasonable for people to be concerned, especially considering how little it can take for someone else to wreck your credit and drive you into debt that isn't even yours.
One of the companies offering identity theft protection is credit monitoring bureau Equifax. Here is a look at what each of Equifax’s tiers of protection offers.
ID Patrol
ID Patrol is Equifax's cheapest option by a dollar at $16.95/month. Bafflingly, it's not branded with any of the rest of their plans. It's in a completely different portion of their website. It offers some basic protections, including:
- Credit monitoring with 3 bureaus
- Access to credit reports at all three bureaus once (they don't specify whether it's per month or year)
- Unlimited access to your Equifax report
- Social security number monitoring
- $1,000,000 identity theft insurance
- 24/7 access to a victim support specialist
- The ability to lock and unlock your credit score in real time
Complete Advantage
For a dollar more per month, you get into the basic tier of Equifax's main line of identity protection services, simply called "Complete Advantage" This comes with some basic protections. Bizarrely, this plan does not perform online monitoring of your social security number the way that both the cheaper ID Patrol and the more expensive Complete Premier both do. The services included in this tier are:
- Credit monitoring across three bureaus daily
- Unlimited access to Equifax credit reports with annual access to Experian and TransUnion
- Monitoring and wireless alerts on your credit report and up to 2 financial accounts
- $25,000 identity theft insurance
- Access to a victim support specialist seven days a week
Complete Premier
Complete Premier gives you everything the other plans give you, with some extra perks on top. Curiously, their website promises "daily" monitoring, rather than 24/7 like the cheaper plan. This may just be a question of semantics but in an industry like this where vigilance is crucial, it's an odd choice. It also makes no mention of the ability to lock and unlock your credit score. It does offer a few additional features, however:
- Auto fraud alerts that encourage lenders to verify your ID before authorizing new credit
- "WebDetect" online monitoring of a massive amount of personal information: Social Security Number, 5 Bank accounts, 6 credit cards, loan/lease info, public records, full name, phone record, street address, 3 email addresses, insurance records, 10 medical IDs, and 5 Passports
- Lost wallet protection in the form of "one-stop assistance" in canceling and reissuing credit and debit cards, driver's licenses, social security cards, insurance cards, passports, and traveler's checks
- $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance
Complete Family
This plan is just the Premier Plan with the ability to add your family. At $29.95/month, you save 25% of the cost of enrolling two adults into Premier. Plan-specific changes include:
- Monitoring for up to four minor children
- Alerts on any activity on your child's Equifax credit file
- Toll-free access to an identity theft specialist
- The ability to share alerts with the other adult on the account
Equifax's protection programs overlap in weird ways and places, and none of them really offer the comprehensive protection that some of the other identity theft protection companies do. Add to the fact that they don't seem to have their own house in order where security is concerned -- they were the subject of their own substantial data breach -- and they don't seem to really be the best choice. Customer horror stories of difficulty canceling confirm that assessment and others have reported that the recovery assistance offered in the case of a breach is minimal compared to the major players.
