Is Identity Theft Protection Available
in All 50 States?

Q: I live in Hawaii and want to sign up for identity theft protection services. Do any of these services allow protection for people who live in Hawaii? 

A: Great question! Yes, all of the identity theft protection services do offer identity theft protection in all 50 states, and some even offer it in U.S. territories as well.

Here's a breakdown of where each service offers its protection:

Identity Guard offers protection to people in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

TrustedID and IDFreeze both offer services to any U.S. citizen that has a valid Social Security number. So even if you live in another country these services might be a good option for you. However it's important to note that communication might be an issue because TrustedID and IDFreeze's phone lines aren't able to dial outside of the continental U.S., and certain aspects of the service can only be performed via phone.

LifeLock provides identity theft protection to anyone with a Social Security number, U.S. primary address, telephone number and who resides in one of the 50 states or U.S. territories.

These services — ProtectMyID.com, PrivacyGuard and Equifax — offer identity theft protection to all 50 states.

Check out our Identity Theft Protection Compare Page to see a side-by-side comparison of each of our reviewed identity theft protection services or visit our FAQs to learn more about identity theft protection services.

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New Utility Scam: How to Protect Yourself

Recently the Better Business Bureau issued a warning to alert consumers in the U.S. and Canada about a new utility scam. Thieves are calling residences and posing as representatives of local electric, water or gas company. The scammers tell the consumer that they are running late on utility payment, and they need to make a payment immediately.

Instead of accepting a phone payment of a credit card or check — such as your utility company does — the scammers are requiring you to make payments with a prepaid debit card. They tell you to go purchase one at the grocery store or bank and call them back with the payment information. They then take the information you've given them about the prepaid debit card to imprint a new prepaid debit card.

The BBB reported that thieves are turning to prepaid debit cards because regulations and rules for wire transfers have gotten more strict, and prepaid debit cards do not require any identification to use. Also, these cards are difficult to trace because they are intended for one-time use.

Here are some ways that you can protect yourself from this utility bill scam.

1. Don't pay bills with a prepaid debit cards: Companies that provide utility services don't accept payments with prepaid debit cards. If someone does call you and insists that you pay your overdue bill with a prepaid debit card then you should not give them any personal information. Hang up the phone and report the scam to the BBB.

2. Verify the caller. If you get a call from someone claiming to be a representative from your utility service that is threatening to turn off your utilities, make sure this person actually works for your utility company. The best way to do this is to hang up the phone, and call the phone number listed on your utility bill. Tell the customer service representative that you wanted to inquire about your bill because you just received a call from someone saying that you're past due. The representative will be able to tell you the status of your bill.

The BBB also reminds consumers to not allow anyone into your home to check electrical wiring, natural gas pipes or appliances unless you have a scheduled appointment with your utility provider. Also, call your utility company to verify they have sent someone to check the safety of your home.

If you feel that you have been contacted by a scammer and revealed your personal information then you might want to consider signing up for an identity theft protection service. These services monitor your personal information to make sure it isn't being sold to thieves or used inappropriately. In the instance that they notice something out-of-the ordinary or phishy, they will send you alert to verify the activity was done by you and not a thief. Check out this blog to learn why identity theft protection is a useful service to have, and visit our Identity Theft Protection Compare Page to find out what each service offers in terms of protection.

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How Can I Protect The Identity of My Parents?

Q: I have two elderly parents who don't quite understand the importance of keeping their personal information to themselves. I often worry that someone will take advantage of them and steal their identity. How can I protect my elderly parents from identity theft? 

A: Good question! We know how important it is to make sure your parents' identity is protected, especially since identity thieves often target the elderly and children, so the best option for you is to sign your parents up for an identity theft protection service. That's mostly because you can't be with your parents all the time so there's no way to know exactly what personal information they are revealing about themselves. An identity theft protection service will monitor their personal information — such as Social Security number and bank accounts — to make sure none of their personal information is being used fraudulently. If these services notice anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, they will send an alert to notify you of the possible fraud.

The best service for you and your parents depends on how much control you want over their identity theft protection membership. Some identity theft protection services — such as Identity Guard — do not allow you to completely represent a parent, even with a power of attorney.

With Identity Guard you do have the option to send the alerts to your email instead of your parents, however in the event that your parent's personal information is compromised, Identity Guard must speak to your parents and sort it out with your parents. If you decide that Identity Guard is the best option for your parents, they'd have to sign up individually and pay 14.99 per month each — with NextAdvisor's 25 percent discount — which would make the total $29.98 per month. This top-rated identity theft protection service also offers a 30-day free trial, so you can always sign your parents up and test the service out before you make a commitment. Check out our full review of Identity Guard to learn more about the service, or visit Identity Guard's website directly to start the 30-day free trial.

Other services — such as TrustedID — allow you to have complete control over your parents' membership as long as you can provide a valid power of attorney, which gives you permission to handle all their affairs. Your parents would need to sign themselves up, but once they are all signed up you can submit a copy of  your power of attorney to TrustedID to be able to assist your parents with their identity theft protection. TrustedID offers a family plan that protects an unlimited number of people living at the same address for $18 per month with an annual prepay or $25.19 per month with monthly payments. As one of top-rated identity theft protection services, TrustedID offers a 14-day free trial that will allow you and your parents to test out the service before you make a financial commitment. Check out our full review of TrustedID to learn more about the service, or visit TrustedID's website directly to start the 14-day free trial.

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50 Million LivingSocial Customers Hacked:
What To Do If Your Identity Is Stolen

News broke this afternoon that more than 50 million LivingSocial customers' personal information was hacked, revealing their names, email addresses, birth dates and encrypted passwords to the hackers. If you're  a LivingSocial customer and fear that your personal information may lead to identity theft, then the first thing that you should do is change your passwords for any online accounts that you may have connected to your LivingSocial account including your email's password.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft from the hacking, here are some steps that can take to help recover your identity.

1. Report the hacking to the FTC and the local police department: Filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission will help the agency look for any trends with identity theft, which can help lead to investigations and future prosecutions. Next, you should file a police report, which can help lead to a possible source of the hacking.
2. Alert credit report agencies: When you alert your credit agencies you have two options — place a fraud alert or place a credit freeze on their credit report. A fraud alert is an alert that is connected to the credit report which lets creditors know that you need to take extra steps to verify your identity. The fraud alert still allows companies access to the credit report.  On the other hand, a credit freeze completely locks down your credit, meaning no company — not even current credit cards — have access to the credit report. The decision to place a security fraud alert or a credit freeze is up to you.
3. Alert creditors: The word creditor is used loosely because, in this case, a creditor can be any company, bank or membership that has your personal information. Even though you have already filed a report and alerted credit report agencies, this is still an important step because it lets creditors know that you should be aware of the accounts or memberships. Your creditors can include credit cards, banks, utilities, Internet providers, gym/spa memberships, insurance carriers and any other companies where personal information could be compromised.

Another solid way to help stop identity theft is to sign up for identity theft protection. These services actively monitor your personal information, such as your Social Security number and bank account numbers, to make sure the information is not being used fraudulently. If the service finds any of you personal information being used suspiciously, they will alert you to verify that it isn't fraud. Our top-rated identity theft services will even assist you throughout the recovery process.

Check out our compare page to learn more about identity theft protection services, or visit our FAQs to learn more about identity theft in general. Also, check out this blog to get more information about why identity theft protection is useful.

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Can I Get Credit Monitoring For My Business?

Q: Do any credit report monitoring services offer a business plan?

A: Though there aren't credit monitoring services that will monitor your company's Tax Identity Number (TIN) number, there are a couple of ways you can use these services to help protect your business. Top-rated services like Identity Guard monitor your credit cards and bank accounts daily, and alert you of any changes in your credit report. They also scan the Internet's black markets for any use of your social security number and name. If your business credit cards and bank accounts are under your social security number, then you will be protected under Identity Guard's excellent plan. Other top-tier services that do this are PrivacyGuard and Trusted ID.

Not only do credit monitoring services protect you against identity theft, but they also offer special recovery benefits if you are a victim of identity theft, and again, this applies to your business if the credit accounts are under your social security number. Identity Guard, for example, offers $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance coverage. This isn't even the best part of their identity theft protection, however, since you are not monetarily liable for fraud that occurs in your accounts. An even better benefit of the service is their Identity Theft Recovery Unit, that helps you restore your accounts, credit and good name.

Another way that credit monitoring can help your business is that many providers offer data breach services. A service like Trusted ID's "Data Breach Defense" offers extensive assistance in case of a data breach including rendering the compromised information valueless, communication management for you and your clients as well as reporting and audit services.

Read full reviews, sign up for free trials and compare the top services on our credit report monitoring services comparison page.

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Can I Get Credit Monitoring for My Teenager?

Q: I would like to get a credit report monitoring service for myself and my 14 year old son, which service would be best?

A: Companies will only monitor a person's credit file if they are over 18; however, there are credit monitoring services that will protect young teens against identity theft. Without a doubt, Trusted ID is the best credit report monitoring service for those looking for a family plan. This is simply because other services don't offer them.

For $20/month Trusted ID will cover everyone in your household, including children and teens.

While only two adults will receive their 3-bureau credit scores and credit report, everyone in your household will benefit from Trusted ID's full service identity theft protection. Trusted ID will monitor each household member's social security number and name for misuse,  and each member will also be covered by their $1 million identity theft insurance warranty. Additionally, Trusted ID provides valuable recovery tools if anyone in your household falls victim to identity theft — they will pay for and perform all the tasks necessary to restore your identity and good name.

Read our detailed, full review of Trusted ID and be sure to sign up for the free 14-day trial. Compare the service to other top rated credit report monitoring providers here.

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Are There Requirements for
TrustedID's Family Plan?

Q: I want to sign up for TrustedID's family plan, but I don't know if I meet the requirements. I have a family of five with two children in college. I'd like identity theft protection for all five of my family members. Do I qualify for TrustedID's family plan? 

A: Great question! There are actually no limits on age or number of people that you can include in your TrustedID family plan. The only requirement is that all the people listed on the plan must live at the same address.

If you have a child or children away at college, then they can still be protected under the same family plan. The only requirement is that they're still using your address as their permanent address. If they have permanently moved out of your home — unlike temporarily moving away to college — then they can no longer be included on the family plan.

The TrustedID family plan is a great option for a family looking to get identity theft protection for all the members. The plan costs  $18/month paid with annual prepay or $25.19/month paid with monthly payments. Both options also come with a 14-day free trial. The family plan protects your family by constantly monitoring public records, social security numbers, bank accounts and medical records on the Internet to make sure that none of your family's personal  information is being fraudulently used or sold to potential thieves. It's important to note, that TrustedID does only offer active credit report monitoring for two adult members. So if you have three children in college, then know that they all won't be able to have active credit report monitoring as well.

Check out our full review of TrustedID to learn more about the service or visit TrustedID's website directly to begin your 14-day free trial.

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Is Identity Theft Protection Useful?

Do you ever wonder if identity theft protection services are worth the price? We recently talked with an identity theft victim who explained the headache they went through to restore their good name. The victim told us that it took them weeks to completely contact each of the necessary agencies, banks, creditors, local police and the Federal Trade Commission. They said it was a nightmare, and they wish they had someone to help them with the restoration process. That's exactly where the most valuable parts of identity theft protection services lie.

All of our top-rated identity theft protection services offer strong assistance in the case that your identity is stolen. They provide you with the resources that you need to restore your good name, and even represent you throughout the restoration process. This is valuable because the services alleviate the stress of having to contact every bank or business that you've ever provided your personal information to — even if it was only your name and phone number.

Another strong value of identity theft protection services is the constant monitoring of your personal information, even if it is only your social security number. These services — such as our top-rated identity theft protection services Identity Guard and TrustedID — monitor your personal information and alert you if they notice anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. This is important because it can help stop identity theft before it completely begins or before it gets too far.

Identity theft protection services also are cheap for NextAdvisor readers. Most of the services cost less than a gym membership each month. For example, NextAdvisor readers get a 25% discount on Identity Guard, which brings the monthly payments down from $19.99/month to $14.99/month.  Along with the discount, NextAdvisor readers also get a free 30-day trial to test out the service before you pay any money. Check out our compare page to see all the special discounts and free trials NextAdvisor readers are offered.

Even though it may seem unnecessary to sign up for identity theft protection services now — because you're not currently a victim of identity theft — there is a chance that you could be a victim of identity theft in the future, and identity theft protection services would be a less-stressful way to restore your good name.

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Will CISPA Reveal Your Personal Information?

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2013, or CISPA, was passed by the House Intelligent Committee, Wednesday, and is now moving onto the House of Representatives, who could vote on it as early as next week. If passed, the bill — which is a revision of the 2012 CISPA that was shot down by the Senate last spring — would allow companies to share information with the U.S. government in hopes of assisting in the investigations of cyber attacks.

One of the major concerns with the proposed act is that it would allow consumer's personal information, which was originally given to a business, to be shared with the government top-secret spy agencies. If the bill is passed, one question arises: Could this possibly lead to identity theft and how will you keep your personal information private?

Yes, the reality is that this bill could possibly lead to more identity thefts because anytime personal information is revealed about an individual, they become more vulnerable to identity theft. Even though the information will be with government top-secret spy agencies, it is still important to consider that a government official could possibly commit identity theft, and even government agencies have the potential to be hacked. Scary thought, right?

There are a couple of ways that you could make sure your person information remains private. The first and unrealistic way is to completely remove your personal information from every business — from banks to grocery stores — that you've ever given personal information to, and the second is to sign up for an identity theft protection service. Although identity theft protection services can't remove your information from the businesses that you originally gave the information to, they can still make sure that you do not turn into a victim of identity theft by sending you alerts every time they notice something out of the ordinary. Our two top-rated identity theft protection services — Identity Guard and TrustedID — both offer superior identity theft protection including active monitoring of all three credit bureaus credit reports, bank accounts, credit cards, social security numbers and public records. Check out our full review of Identity Guard and our full review of TrustedID to learn more about the services. Or you can check out this blog to see a side-by-side comparison of the two services.

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Is Identity Theft Protection
Security Software Compatible with Macs?

Q: I'm thinking of signing up for identity theft protection. As a Mac user, one of my worries is that the anti-spyware, anti-phishing and anti-keylogging software, which is included in the protection, isn't compatible with my computer. Are there any identity theft protection services that offer anti-spyware, anti-phishing and anti-keylogging software compatible with Macs?

A: That's a really great question. Unfortunately, none of the identity theft protection services that we review offer anti-phishing, anti-spyware and anti-keylogging software that is compatible with Macs. We understand how frustrating this can be, but it is important to remember that even though the security software is a good addition, the value of the identity theft protection services come from the fact that they protect your identity  and help alleviate the headache in the case that your identity is stolen.

If you currently have an Internet security software, then we'd recommend that you continue to use that software while you're signed up for identity theft protection. If you are looking for security software for your Mac, we'd recommend that you check out our Mac Internet Security Software page. These services are reasonably priced and offer solid Internet security.

Also check out our Identity Theft Protection Compare Page to learn more about each of the identity theft protection services.

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