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Identity Guard Review: Credit Report Monitoring |
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| All 3 reports & scores for free; most comprehensive service; free 30-day trial; best overall | |
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[Editor's Note: For a limited time, Identity Guard is offering an exclusive $3.00/mo discount and free 30-day trial to NextAdvisor.com visitors. There is no coupon code required to take advantage of this offer, so simply click on any Identity Guard link on NextAdvisor.com to take advantage of this limited time discount pricing.]
If fear of identity theft is your primary reason for checking your credit, there is no question that Identity Guard Total Protection is your best option. Even if identity theft is just one factor, Identity Guard's exhaustive list of features and 30-day free trial make it worth serious consideration. It provides the most data you can get as well as the longest free trial. In addition to providing 3-bureau monitoring, free credit reports from all three bureaus and free credit scores from all 3 bureaus, Identity Guard Total Protection offers an extremely impressive and potent arsenal of tools to stop identity theft and credit card fraud. Identity Guard goes far beyond other credit monitoring services by also monitoring public records for any changes in your name, scanning for application or social security fraud, and monitoring the Internet's black market for any use of your credit cards or other personal information. They also include anti-keylogging software, lost wallet protection (they can cancel your credit card accounts and give you up to $2,000 advance if you need it) and a Personal ID Risk Assessment. Perhaps the most notable extra service that's included in Identity Guard Total Protection is the free Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite, an award-winning Internet security solution including anti-virus, firewall, anti-phishing and anti-spam software with hourly security updates. This normally costs $49.95 to buy but is free with your Total Protection enrollment and includes all virus definition updates and annual renewals as long as you maintain your membership. Of course if you don't want or need this security software you don't have to download it. In addition, Identity Guard Total Protection now gives users who sign up from NextAdvisor.com a 30-day free trial of their service. So even if you decide to cancel the service after your 30-day free trial, you get to keep at no cost all 3 credit reports and scores, a public records report and the Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite for free. Buying all these separately would cost you over $100. Immediately upon signing up, Identity Guard Total Protection gives you daily 3-bureau credit monitoring with email alerts, a 3-in-1 credit report (an easy to read format of your report from all 3 bureaus) and your credit scores from all 3 bureaus. The scores are based on the CreditXpert scoring system, which isn't as popular as the FICO system that most lenders use, but is a very good approximation of it. Your subscription includes access to a very useful credit analyzer. You can try out different scenarios, such as paying off your credit card by a certain amount or opening up a new loan, to see how your credit score will be affected. If you are monitoring your credit, this analyzer can help you to make the best choices to raise your credit score. Identity Guard gives you a new credit report, public record report and credit scores every 3 months. Identity Guard recently updated their member center so that it is now extremely useful. They make it easy to see what identity protection tools you have and haven't activated as well as what updated information is available to you. They are also great about letting you know via email when you have new reports available. Be sure to register all your credit card and bank accounts right away to take advantage of their excellent identity theft protection. In the event of a credit card theft, you can report the incident to Identity Guard and they will handle all the details for you, including reporting the cards as stolen and getting new cards issued to you. Identity Guard offers generous customer service phone hours (8am-11pm M-F and 9am-6pm Sat) as well as postal mail and e-mail contact methods. When we tried contacting them, a customer service representative answered almost immediately, and was able to provide useful advice about the service. Reporting for lost or stolen cards can be done on the phone or through your account, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Overall, Identity Guard Total Protection can't be beat in terms of features and functionality. It offers both a great credit monitoring service and the best identity theft protection you can get. |
Search our blog archives and frequently asked questions for more information about Credit Report Monitoring Services
| Free Reports & Scores: | Free reports & scores from all 3 bureaus |
| Free Trial & Monthly Fee: | Free 30-day trial; $14.99/mo (after exclusive, limited time discount) |
| Reports & Scores Delivered: | 3-bureau report + 3 scores each quarter |
| Bureaus Monitored: | All three bureaus |
NextAdvisor Credit Report Blog Headlines
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