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Identity theft has become more common with most of our business being conducted online. Protecting your identity is more important than ever today, and Privacy Guard promises to deliver the protection you need.
Is the service worth it? Check out my PrivacyGuard Review below.
What is Privacy Guard?
Privacy Guard provides identity protection along with credit monitoring and credit restoration services.
You can sign up for just identity protection, just credit protection, or both depending on your needs. PrivacyGuard has been around since 1992 and offers unique perks that other identity protection services don’t offer.
Privacy Guard is a mobile app available on both iOS and Android devices and is included in your subscription.
>> More:Best credit monitoring services
Privacy Guard Review: Plans, Pricing, & Features
Credit Protection
- Price: $19.99/month
The Credit Protection plan tracks and monitors your credit scores. Each month you’ll receive triple bureau credit score tracking and monitoring.
This keeps you informed of what your credit score is doing and what’s being reported on your credit report. If you’re a victim of identity theft or credit card fraud, you’ll know quickly and can stop the issue in its tracks.
The Credit Protection plan doesn’t monitor your identity. It’s meant to track and protect your credit, arming you with information to know what’s being reported about you.
The tools provided help you make important financial decisions such as if or when you should buy a car or house.
The Credit Protection plan also includes encrypted mobile keyboarding and safer mobile browsing. It doesn’t include identity theft insurance since it doesn’t offer identity theft protection.
Features:
- Email and text alerts about any credit issues
- A monthly report of your credit scores and credit history
- A dedicated agent to help you with any issues
- Access to a credit score simulator to see how your scores would change with certain credit decisions
- A suite of financial calculators
- Hotline to call for credit information
Total Protection
- Price: 24.99/month
Total Protection combines Credit Protection and Identity Protection, giving you the best of both worlds.
If you’re worried about your identity and your credit, this package does everything for you, giving you the peace of mind needed to conduct business online and on your mobile phone.
Features:
In addition to what’s provided in both Credit and Identity Protection, Total Protection includes:
- Monitors children’s Social Security numbers
- Pre-approved credit card offers
- Neighborhood reporting
- Sex offender lists
- Reimbursement for medical records
- Emergency travel assistance
Identity Protection
- Price: $9.99/month
Identity Theft watches most areas your public information could be stored to see how it’s used. It scans all popular and lesser-known regions that hackers and thieves could steal and use your information. It doesn’t include credit monitoring, though.
PrivacyGuard ID Protection also encrypts your mobile keyboard, so online conversations and information shared are protected.
It also includes secure browsing on your mobile device. If you’re a victim of identity theft, you are assigned a caseworker who will help you restore your identity.
The plan includes $1 million in identity theft insurance and helps with lost or stolen credit cards. It’s a good plan for those who want ID protection but who can or will monitor their credit themselves.
The fee is low enough to make it affordable while providing peace of mind that your identity isn’t being used elsewhere.
Features:
- Social Security use, such as associating your SS number with another name or address
- Dark web monitoring to see if your name, debit, or credit card numbers are being sold on the black market (up to 10 credit or debit cards monitored)
- Public records monitoring to determine if your name or address is being used on any liens, judgments, court, or criminal records
- Change of address monitors if anyone changed your mailing address on current services or creditors
- Bank account, debit card, credit card, driver’s license, and passport monitoring to ensure your information isn’t being used elsewhere
- Use of your email address, date of birth, or phone number to make sure no one stole your personal information to sign up for new services and/or gain access to more personal information
How Oes Privacy Guard Compare to Other Services?
#1. IdentityForce
IdentityForce offers similar services to PrivacyGuard except that IdentityForce offers family plans or the ability to monitor children’s identity.
Both plans offer credit monitoring (if you choose Total Protection), including credit monitoring, identity protection, identity restoration, credit score simulators, and one-on-one support.
IdentityForce is a few dollars more a month at $23.95 per month for UltraSecure + Credit to give you full access to all identity and credit protection programs.
>> More: IdentityForce Review
#2. LifeLock
LifeLockis one of the first names most people think of when they think of identity protection. LifeLock now works with Symantec providing not only identity theft protection but also computer protection. Since most of our time is spent on a mobile device or computer, this is good protection to have.
LifeLock’s Ultimate Plus program is the closest to PrivacyGuard’s Total Protection plan and costs $29.99/month.
It includes different features than Total Protection, but the similarities include three-bureau credit monitoring, identity and Social Security monitoring, and three-score reports monthly.
LifeLock also provides unlimited computer and mobile protection, phone takeover monitoring, monitoring of crimes committed in your name, and home title monitoring to ensure no one fraudulently takes over your home’s title. LifeLock also freezes your TransUnion credit.
>> More: LifeLock Review
#3. Credit Sesame
Credit Sesamemonitors your TransUnion credit scores and reports. It’s more of a credit monitoring service, comparable to Privacy Guard’s Credit Protection plan, although they offer $50,000 in free identity theft insurance.
The main difference is Credit Sesame is free but only offers credit protection, not identity theft protection.
They provide information on any potential threats to your credit, as well as advice on how to improve your credit score based on your current and past activity.
Credit Sesame provides a score on how you’re doing with your credit, a free credit strategy, and strategies to lower your costs on certain things like credit cards or personal loans.
>> More: Credit Sesame Review
Privacy Guard Review FAQs
How Much Does Privacy Guard Cost?
Privacy Guard costs between $9.99 – $24.99, depending on the program you choose. The $9.99 plan covers only credit monitoring, and the $24.99 plan covers both credit and identity theft protection.
If you can monitor your credit yourself, you can get just the identity theft protection for $19.99/month and save some money.
Does Privacy Guard Offer a Free Trial?
Right now, Privacy Guard doesn’t have a free trial, but you can use the service for 14 days for $1, but you must provide your credit card, and it will be billed automatically after the 14 days ends.
How Does PrivacyGuard Identity Theft Insurance Work?
PrivacyGuard’s identity theft insurance provides the financial support you need if your identity is stolen. It helps you take the right steps and covers the costs to get you back on your feet.
Dealing with identity theft is stressful enough, and without identity theft insurance, you could face even more stress financially.
How Do I Cancel Privacy Guard?
You must contact customer service by phone at 1-800-374-8273 or email at [email protected] to cancel your account.
Bottom Line: Privacy Guard Review
If you don’t have an identity theft program already, Privacy Guard is worth checking out.
If you don’t monitor your own credit, consider the Total Protection plan, or if you want a cheaper plan and will stay on top of your credit, the Identity Theft Protection provides ample protection.
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