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PROS:
CONS:
ID Patrol by Equifax is a good choice for people who are mostly preoccupied with protecting their credit cards. The service has a lot of useful features that focus exactly on this kind of protection, from credit report lock to fraud alerts and so on.
However, it is more limited when it comes to protecting your personal information and it doesn’t offer monitoring for medical ID fraud, public or criminal records.
ID Patrol is an identity theft protection service released by Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus. ID Patrol’s main focus is credit score reporting and monitoring from Equifax and the other 2 bureaus (TransUnion and Experian).
In order to get started, you have to fill in the form on their website. They will require your first and last name, gender, current address, state, social security number, date of birth and mobile phone. They will also ask for your credit card details and charge you right when you sign up. What you should know about them (and this applies to all their plans) is that they don’t provide partial month refunds. They will charge you every month, according to the plan you signed up for, but you can cancel anytime you want.
ID Patrol offers up to $1 million insurance in case of identity theft, Internet scanning. lost wallet assistance, credit monitoring for all three bureaus and automatic alerts that can be customized according to your needs. You can set a specific amount of money or a percentage that would trigger the alert. If you choose a small number, you might get too many alerts. If this annoys you, you can always change the threshold.
Credit card identity theft is ID Patrol’s specialty. This service gives a lot of importance to issues like credit card fraud and it is more limited when it comes to protecting your personal data. There is also no medical ID fraud monitoring and no public or criminal records monitoring.
There is however a useful feature included, the WebDetect, which lets you know if your personal information has been used on the Internet.
The fraud alerts are a useful tool. The service adds these alerts to your credit cards in case of any suspicious activity. This way, creditors will also have to go through additional steps to verify your ID.
There is also the possibility to lock your Equifax credit report. This way, no one can see it or open unauthorized accounts using your personal data. This feature only applies to your Equifax credit report, not to Experian or TransUnion.
One other thing we liked about this company is the rich education center. There is an entire section on their website dedicated to “Credit Education”, with lots of useful materials on identity theft protection, credit reports and credit scores and so on. You can also take the risk-assessment quiz, visit their “Equifax Finance Blog”, or consult the FAQ section.
You can also call them if you want to opt-out of mailing lists. The number is: 888-567-8688.
ID Patrol has 2 plans dedicated to identity protection: Equifax ID Patrol and Equifax ID Patrol Premier.
Equifax ID Patrol costs $16.95/month and includes credit monitoring for all 3 bureaus, lock and unlock your Equifax credit report, alerts in case of suspicious activities and others.
Equifax ID Patrol Premier is $19.95/month and includes all the benefits from the standard package and more: access to your Equifax 3-bureau credit scores, help identity, in case your personal info appears on suspicious websites, etc.
There are also other packages available under credit monitoring products: Equifax Complete Premier Plan ($19.95/month) and Equifax Complete Plan ($29.95/month).
They include lost wallet assistance, fraud alerts and others.
Check out all the products here: https://www.equifax.com/personal/products
If you want to contact them directly, they have several available numbers, depending on the nature of your problem/request.
Here are the available numbers: http://www.equifax.com/cs/Satellite?pagename=contact_us
Social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Equifax
Once you sign up for one of their plans, you will get access to their Member Center. By logging into your account, you can get all the help you need.
Equifax provides 24/7 phone support, which is a big plus for this service, given that a lot of the competitors only offer this kind of support during standard business hours and ID theft is not a matter that can be postponed.
Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.
By: Matt | Last updated July 7, 2017 
