First, there is LifeLock identity theft protection service which is among the best-known services in the industry. Drawing from the continuous advertisements of LifeLock and its monthly subscription fee, one may ask – is LifeLock worth it? In this article, the author will offer an honest and unbiased review of LifeLock options, prices, and customer experiences to help you determine whether or not it is worth it for you to invest the cash.
What Does LifeLock Do
It also analyzes your personal information and sends you notifications if there is something wrong and suspicious that may depict the misuse of your identity. This includes things like:
- Applicants using credit card or bank account applications in your name
- The factors relating to the credit reports
- Gross compromises of personal information
- Questionable FOIA activity
- Fraudulent tax returns
In the event there is an incident that LifeLock finds out is a possible identity theft, they will inform you and guide you on how to counter it. They also offer services that may assist in recovering an individual’s identification in case of an identity theft.
Some key identity protection services LifeLock offers include:
- Credit Monitoring & Alerts: The service tracks your creditworthiness from all three credit reporting agencies and sends you notifications on credit inquiries, new accounts, late payments, and changes of address among other things.
- Dark Web Monitoring: It looks for your information on Websites and black markets where it is openly traded.
- Stolen Funds Reimbursement: This service will even help to recover lost money through accounts of a bank or an investment company, if they are emptied due to identity theft, up to $1 million.
- Credit & Identity Repair Services: If by any chance you are a victim of identity theft, then you do not have to worry because LifeLock has its team of identity restoration specialists to do all the recovery work for you.
It is a battle between LifeLock Standard and LifeLock Ultimate plans.
LifeLock offers two main plans: LifeLock offers two main plans:
LifeLock Standard ($9. 99/month): it encompasses credit monitoring, dark web scans, stolen funds coverage, and identity restoration services.
LifeLock Ultimate Plus ($29. 99/month): The next higher level plan that offers the above-mentioned features that involve monitoring of banks and credit card details, searching for your social security number on the internet, sex offender registry for your information, etc.
The Extra monitoring services of the higher price Ultimate plan include more monitoring services related to financial and criminal identity thefts. The standard includes the so-called basic features that will suffice for most individuals concerned with the traditional forms of identity theft.
Reputation & Reviews: Is LifeLock Genuine
Other important strengths that have been pointed out for LifeLock include the following; Even though LifeLock is a relatively new company it has at least been in existence since year 2005, making it one of the oldest identity theft firms. They currently boast of having a membership of over 4. 5 million people.
Nonetheless, there are times that LifeLock was also accused by the FTC and the state attorneys general from 2010 to 2012 of misleading claims in their services. This involved creating a perception to consumers that the service would shield them from any form of identity theft.
Since then, however, LifeLock has been able to pivot and improve its technology, its scope of service, and its marketing message because there are indeed limits to what it can do. It settled with regulators in 2015 to address the previous concerns that are described in the following sections.
Most of the third-party expert reviews provide LifeLock with features, value, and support ratings, that and above average. Consumer reviews have an average of 3. 5 stars in each of the sites, proving that while the service is useful, there are drawbacks inherent to all such services.
The biggest ongoing complaints about LifeLock tend to be: The biggest ongoing complaints about LifeLock tend to be:
- Notification about normal credit check-ups or account changes by the consumers themselves (generate unnecessary notifications)
- Delays required to contact the service team whenever challenges are encountered
- Time consumed in the process of trying to cancel a subscription that was on an annual basis
Therefore, even though LifeLock is not 100% free from complaints, it does seem to have an above-average reputation at most independent reviewing sites as well as monitoring agencies. Their services are performed as the promises to their regular customers although the alerts or the waiting time of the support can be problematic sometimes.
What is the cost and is it worth it for LifeLock
That, in turn, leads to answering the question that defines this work: Is LifeLock worth subscribing to for identity theft protection?
The short answer is – yes and no, depending on your perceived level of risk, your feelings about identity theft, and the use of a full suite of LifeLock services.
The credit monitoring and the notifications of threats can be comforting – but do not be surprised when one gets a regular ‘suspicious’ activity. But if the price is justified, then it is of immense worth to use the full identity restoration support in a concrete identity theft situation.
However, if you seldom respond to alerts, have fraud alerts opened with the credit bureaus, or secure good identity protection practices, such as frequently performing personal credit reports, then the monitoring is not very valuable. Same if you compare your price to lower priced competitors.
That being said, all in all, LifeLock is a genuine player in the identity theft protection industry. For those who have more concern about ID theft risks those who need assistance on how to avoid or minimize issues or those who prefer having their identity restored, then the convenience of the overall monitoring and restoration services makes the monthly subscription cost reasonable.
Call now for expert credit repair services: (888) 803-7889
Read More:
How much down payment for a 500k house?
What credit score do I need to buy a $20000 car?
Can I finance a car with a 480-credit score?
How much does credit monitoring cost?
What are the three main credit monitoring services?
