Overview
ProtectMyID is part of the family of online sites owned by ConsumerInfo.com, an Experian company. Some of the other sites have names you might recognize like LowerMyBills.com and FreeCreditReport.com. With ProtectMyID, Experian has finally entered the identity theft marketplace to compete with industry leaders like Lifelock and TrustedID. ProtectMyID offers credit monitoring for all three bureaus, internet scanning, recovery support and an exceptional $1,000,000 product guarantee.
Rationale
In recent years, identity theft protection services have been moving away from preventive measures like fraud alerts and credit freezes to adopt a more credit monitoring type of strategy. This may be due to the fact that fraud alerts can be easily done for free by the consumer or more likely, that any preventive measure is only partial protection at best. ProtectMyID.com from Experian takes this approach and offers a comprehensive package at an affordable price.
The main element of ProtectMyID.com’s protection lies in the three bureau credit monitoring. You’ll be able to receive alerts near real time if any changes are made to any of your three major credit reports. It’s important to point out that while all your credit reports will be monitored for changes, you will only be able to access to your Experian credit report. However, ProtectMyID.com does make available TransUnion and Equifax reports at steeply discounted rates.
How Do They Protect You?
- Three-Bureau Credit Monitoring
- Change Of Address Monitoring
- Scans Internet
- ChildSecure℠
- Lost Wallet Protection
- $1 Million Product Guarantee
- Dedicated Resolution Specialist
ProtectMyID.com will monitor your credit report on a daily basis and alert you via email or SMS text messaging if any changes are posted to your Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion report.
ProtectMyID.com will monitor any change of address requests through the U.S. Postal Service, a common tactic used by identity thieves.
Monitors internet black market sites, including chat rooms where personal data is bought and sold for your personal information. You will be alerted immediately if any of your information is compromised.
ProtectMyID.com offers a service to monitor your child’s credit files for an additional $6.95 per month.
ProtectMyID.com will assist you in canceling all your credit card accounts. In addition if their product fails, ProtectMyID.com will reimburse you for any stolen funds your bank or credit card company will not be responsible for.
This is the most comprehensive identity theft insurance policy available with unlimited coverage for wage losses.
If something does go wrong, you’ll have acces to a dedicated resolution specialist to assist you in resolving an fraud issues.
What Do They Do Better Than Anybody?
$1 Million Product Guarantee
ProtectMyID’s $1 Million Product Guarantee doesn’t set aside wage limits in it’s lost wage coverage unlike every other identity theft protection service. It’s important to remember that identity theft insurance isn’t like traditional insurance and is there to cover the expenses involved with recovering from identity theft, not to make whole financial losses resulting from the theft like auto or home insurance. Nonetheless, the wording in it’s policy suggests that an argument could be made for even traditional insurance coverage.
Credit Monitoring
While ProtectMyID.com isn’t the most comprehensive identity theft protection service available, 3-bureau credit monitoring and Internet scanning make it an effective detection service. This, combined with extensive identity theft recovery support, makes ProtectMyID.com a good choice, particularly for consumers who are interested in 3-bureau credit monitoring.
What Kind Of Customer Prefers This Service?
A consumer looking for “good enough” coverage that may find other more comprehensive services unaffordable and unnecessary. After reviewing so many identity protection services, you have to appreciate the thought behind how Experian put together ProtectMyID.
Every identity protection company has to balance what services to include against making that protection affordable for consumers. ProtectMyID assumes (correctly in my opinion) that preventive measures like fraud alerts and credit freezes can be placed easily and for free by the consumer and has left these services out. They’ve added only what they feel are essential services to their protection plan: three bureau credit monitoring, internet scanning, victim assistance and what appears to be the industry’s most comprehensive warranty. Other services may provide unlimited access to all three credit reports but at half again the price. Only you can access your own “threat environment” and for many consumers, this level of protection and price may be just right.
Why Should You Consider Anybody Else?
There appear to be two different schools of thought in the identity protection industry. One side promotes prevention through fraud alerts and credit freezes while the other side forgoes those measures for a credit monitoring approach. Both sides have their pros and cons but if you are looking for a company to place and renew fraud alerts then you should consider Lifelock or TrustedID. I should also mention here that TrustedID offers families significant savings under their one household plan. You can read my post on Lifelock vs. TrustedID here.
If you’re comfortable with the credit monitoring approach, you might want to consider Identity Guard and their one-of-a-kind identity dashboard. Identity Guard has positioned themselves as the gold standard in credit file monitoring and offers the most comprehensive credit monitoring services available along with virus protection and a host of other useful services. Read our Identity Guard review here.
Give It To Me Straight
There is no doubt ProtectMyID.com is an effective identity protection service. If price was not an issue I’d advise you to consider Identity Guard and all the bells and whistles Total Protection offers, but if you’re looking for the most effective protection at the best price I’d recommend ProtectMyID without reservation. I can’t stress the importance of monitoring your credit file and being able to act quickly to any suspicious activity. ProtectMyID.com offers this at almost half the price of Identity Guard’s Total Protection so for consumers looking for value, it’s right here.