Top Identity Theft Protection Services for Seniors

What is Identity Theft Protection for Seniors?

Identity theft protection for seniors is a service that monitors your information to identify fraudulent activity and stop the theft of your identity and resources. This includes services such as:

• Credit Monitoring

• Social Media Monitoring

• Computer Virus Protection

• Credit Card Monitoring

• Dark Web Monitoring

• Fraud Resolution Assistance

• Stolen Funds Reimbursement

• 401(k) and Investment Protection

• Home Title Protection

• Limited Power of Attorney Restoration

• Identity Fraud Insurance

Services will vary depending on your chosen service provider, but most will provide a standard level of protection that includes credit monitoring and identity theft protection. Furthermore, you can add family members such as your spouse and children to your plan. These plans usually come with an increase of the value of the theft insurance and added services that protect children, such as:

• Child credit monitoring

• Child credit freeze

• Online parental controls

• Safe gaming protections

• Safe browsing

• Restoration services for children

What do identity theft protection services do?

As outlined above, identity theft protection companies offer a wide range of services to protect your financial and personal information from scams and fraud. They do this through a three-tier monitoring, alerts, and recovery process.

• Monitoring: Each company’s plans vary, but most provide a standard option to monitor your credit reports and other financial resources, such as savings accounts, bank accounts, 401(k) plans, and investment accounts, for suspicious activity. Most also monitor for new accounts, address changes, payday loans, information on the dark web, and other uses of your personal information.

• Alerts: Without the help of an identity theft protection service, it can take days, weeks, or even months to realize that you’ve fallen prey to fraud. However, identity theft protection services alert you as soon as possible when they detect suspicious activity, giving you time to stop the thieves from accessing your resources.

• Recovery: You can’t always prevent identity theft, so in the event that you experience identity theft, your protection service will assist you in recovering funds and restoring your privacy. This often includes insurance that covers lost funds, fees for attorneys and other specialists, and personal expenses incurred as you work through restoration.

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Why is Identity Theft Protection Essential for Seniors?

Seniors are heavily targeted in identity theft and other financial scams because they often have accrued more equity and resources than others. Unfortunately, this leads to billions of dollars in losses each year. Without an identity theft protection plan, it is extremely difficult to monitor all aspects of one’s finances and protect them from theft. Additionally, restoration can be confusing and challenging to do without the assistance of specialists.

What Discounts Are Available for Senior ID Theft Protection?

Identity theft protection is absolutely worth the investment but can be expensive. Fortunately, there are some ways to save on your plan. First, consider paying annually. All the companies featured here offer discounted rates when paying yearly rather than monthly. For instance, the Aura individual plan costs $12.99 per month. However, if you pay $120 yearly, you save approximately $3 per month or $36 per year.

Additionally, with IdentityGuard’s Ultra Family Plan. Monthly, you’ll normally pay $39.99. However, if you pay yearly, you’ll only pay $400, saving you nearly $80.00 per year.

Veterans, military personnel and their families, seniors, AARP members, and others can typically enjoy significant discounts with most identity theft companies. When signing up, simply ask about a discount.

If you haven’t identified a specific discount that can save you some money, reach out to your bank, employer, or other member organizations to inquire about discounted rates.

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What is the Best Identity Theft Protection Company for Seniors?

Aura

Best Overall

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Aura: 9.1/10

Review

Aura is a trusted name in identity theft protection, with an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and a Trustpilot score of 4.5/5. At a relatively affordable price, seniors and their families can enjoy the solid coverage provided by Aura.

About

Aura undoubtedly offers the best ID theft protection for seniors. With a focus on protecting financial resources such as 401(k), investment accounts, home titles, and credit scores, it covers the aspects most important to those over 55. Furthermore, they offer couple and family plans that cover additional adults and children with the same great features.

Features and Benefits

Depending on your chosen plan, you’ll enjoy a host of benefits to protect you and your family from identity theft. Some of the features you’ll enjoy include:

• $1 million identity theft insurance per adult

• U.S. Based expert fraud remediation

• 3-Bureau credit monitoring

• Monthly credit score

• Annual credit reports

• SSN & personal info dark web monitoring

• Home & auto title fraud alerts

• Stolen identity alerts

• ID verification monitoring

• Instant credit lock

• Bank fraud monitoring

• Financial transaction monitoring

• People search sites & junk mail removal

• Antivirus / Anti-Malware protection

• VPN

• Password Manager

• Spam call & message protection

Family Plans also include:

• $5 million identity theft insurance

• Child SSN monitoring

• Child 3-bureau credit freeze

• Parental controls

• Content filtering & site blocking

• Screen time limits & scheduling

• Online history & usage reports

• In-game voice & text monitoring

• Predator, scam & cyberbullying alerts

• Weekly gaming activity report

Why We Chose

We chose Aura as the overall best theft protection company for seniors because of its focus on protecting financial assets, including investments, 401(k) plans, credit accounts, and home titles. What the coverage lacks in social media monitoring, it makes up for by sending out a fraud alert when it detects data breaches, suspicious bank account activity, or unexpected changes in investment accounts. Furthermore, it offers 3-bureau credit monitoring and provides a monthly credit score and a full credit report annually.

Pros and Cons

Aura’s benefits are almost too many to list. Their coverage runs the gamut of all 3 credit bureaus, 401(k) and investment monitoring, criminal records monitoring, computer protections, and more.

Pros

• 3-bureau credit monitoring

• Monthly credit scores

• Annual credit reports

• $1 million identity theft insurance

• 401(k) & investment monitoring

• 14-day free trial

• 60-day money-back guarantee

• Spam removal service

• Criminal records monitoring

• Antivirus and VPN for up to 10 devices

• Family plans available for up to 5 adults and unlimited children

Cons

• No social media monitoring

• Credit reports only available annually

• Equifax scores not included in monthly notification

Read Full Review

IdentityIQ

Most Straightforward

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for IdentityIQ: 9/10

Review

IdentityIQ is a leader in identity theft protection, providing real-time alerts that guard you from becoming one of the many victims of identity theft who experience financial loss and emotional distress every year. Furthermore, US-based customer service professionals are available to assist with restoration needs and get you back up and running after any breaches.

About

IdentityIQ offers individual plans starting at just $9.99/month. Depending on your plan, you’ll enjoy credit monitoring at one or all three credit bureaus, and alerts you to any changes in your score. You’ll also receive access to your score and reports periodically and enjoy US-based customer service that will walk you through any restoration needs should you experience fraud.

Features and Benefits

• US-based restoration

• Monthly 3-bureau credit reports & scores

• 3-Bureau credit report monitoring

• Home title monitoring

• $1 Million stolen funds reimbursement

• Score change alerts

• Credit scores simulator & tracker

• $25K ID theft insurance

• Fraud restoration with LPOA

• Dark web & internet monitoring

• Criminal records alerts

• SSN alerts

• Change of address alerts

• Lost wallet assistance

• Opt-out assistance (Junk Mail/Do Not Call List)

Why We Chose

IdentityIQ is a clear choice on our list of the best identity theft companies for seniors. With options to forego or add-on antivirus and VPN protection, seniors who spend little time online can access the service's identity theft protection benefits without paying for protection they won’t use.

Pros and Cons

IdentityIQ offers straightforward plans and solid features, including 3-bureau credit monitoring and monthly reports and scores with some plans. Additionally, they keep an eye on your home title, watch criminal and court records, and offer family protections.

Pros

• US-based customer service

• 3-Bureau credit monitoring with some plans

• Monthly 3-bureau report and scores with some plans

• Home title monitoring

• Criminal and court records monitoring

• Family protection available

Cons

• Free trial is only 7-days

• No money-back guarantee

Read Full Review

IdentityForce

Best Credit Score and Reporting

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for IdentityForce: 8.9/10

Review

IdentityForce, a TransUnion service, has provided identity theft protection for nearly twenty years. It has a Trustpilot score of 4.2/5, and many customers praise the prompt alerts that inform them when IdentityForce detected purchases made without their knowledge. Several also spoke highly of the customer service team that helped them with their needs.

About

IdentityForce is a leader in preventing senior identity theft. With a 30-day free trial, 3-bureau credit monitoring, and $1M theft insurance, they provide solid protection for your personal and financial information. Furthermore, they stand out for providing one thing the other companies don't: a personalized action plan. Working with IdentityForce agents, you will receive your personalized action plan that considers your unique risk profile and develops a strategy for protecting you and your resources. This crucial step in the process could make a great difference in your coverage, and IdentityForce provides it with all of its plans.

Features and Benefits

• 30-day free trial for some plans

• Individual and family plans available

• 3-Bureau credit monitoring with higher plans

• Daily credit report and score with some plans

• Dark web monitoring

• Smart SSN tracker

• Bank and credit card activity alerts

• $1M-$2M identity theft insurance

• Credit score tracker

• Credit score simulator

Why We Chose

We chose IdentityForce for many reasons. For starters, they’ve been in the business since 2005 and have become a trusted name. Secondly, they provide each member with a personalized action plan, which they can access and change through the convenient app. The development of this plan greatly increases their reliability. Lastly, we love that they provide daily credit reports and scores, giving you frequent updates on your financial outlook.

Pros and Cons

With your IdentityForce plan, you’ll receive many wonderful benefits that work together to protect you and your information. While we did find a couple of downfalls to their service, they’re still a solid option for senior identity theft protection.

Pros

• Personalized action plan

• Daily credit reports and scores

• Full-service identity restoration

• $1-$2 million identity theft insurance

• Home title monitoring

• Lost/stolen wallet assistance

Cons

• Credit monitoring is only available with more expensive plans

• Plans that include credit scores, reports, and monitoring are pricey

Read Full Review

Discover IdentityForce Plans through Transunion

LifeLock

Most Trusted Brand Name

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for LifeLock: 8.8/10

Review

Lifelock might be one of the most recognizable names on our list. You may recall that they landed in the news when the founder willingly posted his social security number on billboards and commercials. His confidence in the company’s protection services and their merger with Norton (a company providing online virus protection) has made them a household name.

About

When bundled with Norton services, Lifelock provides comprehensive coverage of your personal and financial information and protection of your computer from viruses. Furthermore, their $3m coverage for adults and over $1m coverage for children in the event of theft is outstanding.

Features and Benefits

Features and Benefits vary depending on the plan you choose. Some include:

• Up to $3m coverage per adult and over $1m coverage per child

• Up to $1m stolen funds reimbursement

• Up to $1m to pay for lawyers and experts

• Up to $1m in personal expense reimbursement

• Identity and social security number alerts

• 3-bureau credit monitoring

• Credit reports and credit scores daily

• 401(k) and investment account alerts

• Home title monitoring

• Payday loan lock

• Credit file lock

• Phone takeover monitoring

• Criminal record monitoring

• Buy now, pay later alerts

• Stolen wallet protection

• USPS address change verification

• Dark web monitoring

• ID verification monitoring

• Data breach notifications

• Social media monitoring

Why We Chose

Lifelock identity theft protection services deserve a spot on our list for many reasons. They have a wide range of plans available, meaning you can decide what is most important to you and find a plan that covers just what you need. Moreover, their identity theft insurance is very generous at over $1m for kids and $3m for adults. If your family spends time online, bundling their service with Norton for anti-virus coverage adds an extra layer of protection.

Pros and Cons

With LifeLock’s identity theft protection services, you’ll enjoy a long list of benefits, including home title monitoring, monthly credit reports and scores, and various family plans. The biggest downsides are the price increase after one year and the family plan limits of five children.

Pros

• Wide range of plans to choose from

• Family plans available

• Monthly credit report and score

• Home title monitoring

• VPN and virus protection with Norton bundle

• US-based restoration services

• Payday loan lock

Cons

• Prices increase after the first year

• 3-bureau monitoring only with higher plans

• Family plans only cover up to 5 kids

• Must bundle with Norton for VPN and other online protections

Read Full Review

IdentityGuard

Best Budget Friendly

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for IdentityGuard: 8.7/10

Review

IdentityGuard is one of the oldest companies on our list, as it was one of the original theft protection companies. Founded in 1996, Aura, another solid organization on our list, acquired it in 2019.

About

Seniors looking to protect their information from fraud will love IdentityGuard. They focus heavily on protections such as credit monitoring, financial account monitoring, home title monitoring, and credit locks. While they don’t provide a free trial, they do provide a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Features and Benefits

• US-based care team

• 3-bureau credit monitoring

• Monthly credit score

• 3-bureau annual credit report

• Experian credit lock

• Data breach notifications

• High-risk transaction monitoring

• Bank account monitoring

• Social media monitoring

• Credit and debit card monitoring

• 401(k) and investment account monitoring

• Home title monitoring

• Criminal and sex offense monitoring

• Address change monitoring

• Safe browsing

• Password manager

Why We Chose

With a solid score of 8.7/10, IdentityGuard earned its place on our list due to its 3-bureau credit monitoring, comprehensive identity restoration services, home title monitoring, and stolen/lost wallet assistance.

Pros and Cons

IdentityGuard offers a wide range of services at a competitive price. They even allow unlimited children in their family plan, a fantastic benefit for large and growing families. Their only downfalls are a lack of VPN and a free trial, though they offer a 60-day, money-back guarantee.

Pros

• Plans starting at $8.99/month

• 60-day money-back guarantee on annual plans

• Family plans available

• Unlimited children covered in family plans

• Identity restoration services

• $1 million identity theft insurance

• 3-credit bureau monitoring

• Monthly credit scores with higher plans

Cons

• No VPN

• No free trial

Read Full Review

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Image sources: aura.com - identityforce.com - identityiq.com - lifelock.norton.com - identityguard.com