IdentityIQ Review (2023) – Is It Safe And Legit?

IdentityIQ couldn’t stand up to my tests. It failed in almost every area, making me sure that Aura is still the best identity protection service out there. 

I gave IdentityIQ a solid chance, with over three months of testing (all of which you can read about below). But ultimately, Aura remains my top pick. 

Aura leads the industry in monitoring breadth and accuracy. Plus, Aura offers the best family insurance coverage, industry-leading customer service, and a full suite of identity health add-ons. 

You can lock in our OFF discount on Aura, they won’t increase your price next year.

And, Aura does all of this at a better price than IdentityIQ. So, if you want protection for everything from your home title to your social media accounts, Aura is the best choice. 

Still, I promised you a thorough IdentityIQ review. So, let’s continue, shall we?

IdentityIQ Identity Theft Protection: Is It Worth Getting?

No.

I realize that sounds harsh, but its services are lackluster at best. IdentityIQ struggles to detect threats, doesn’t offer 24/7 customer service, and has some fishy privacy policy inclusions. Plus, it charges extra for things it should include and doesn’t provide many options for families.

While I thought their customer service team was friendly and their user interface was easy to use, this wasn’t enough to sway me to their side. It fails in key areas, and there are far better top identity theft protections out there.

Editor’s Ranking

Monitoring & Alerts: 5/10

IdentityIQ misses the mark when it comes to proactive monitoring and alerts. Its top-tier plan offers: 

And, that’s it. 

It is missing several services that other companies include, such as payday loan monitoring, social media monitoring, and home title monitoring. 

That might be forgivable if they were extremely accurate, but they’re not. As you’re about to learn, when I tested their services, it fell short. 

If you want fully comprehensive and accurate monitoring, it isn’t the best service out there. Aura offers a much broader range of monitoring tools, and it’s far better at catching threats, so you can proactively protect yourself from identity theft. 

Dark Web Monitoring 

IdentityIQ didn’t produce a single dark web alert. 

I would love to believe that none of my personal information is available on the dark web, but that would be naive. I test identity protection services regularly, and I know some of my information is out there – essentially everyone’s is. So when a service fails to flag a single dark web threat, I know something’s not right. 

Alerts Dashboard

IdentityIQ breaks down its alerts by category. There’s a credit alert dashboard, an identity dashboard, and a score dashboard. Inside each one, you can view alert details and next steps. 

Unfortunately, it only found ONE credit alert for me, so I wasn’t able to get a deep sense of how their alerts appear or how useful their next steps are. Still, the one I got gave all the right information. So, I have to assume when it manages to find threats, it will deliver useful alerts. 

Credit and Financial Monitoring

IdentityIQ touts its credit monitoring capabilities. With its top-tier plan, it prominently features monthly three-bureau credit reports, credit monitoring, enhanced credit report monitoring, and a credit simulator and tracker. 

While they don’t offer to initiate credit locks for you, their fraud resolution team will help you with a credit freeze if your report shows signs of fraudulent activity. All of this is great, except that there are several free and lower-cost services that offer credit monitoring tools like this. 

When it comes to the financial side of things, it is lacking. They don’t offer investment account monitoring, which means your retirement savings are still vulnerable. 

Public Records Monitoring

IdentityIQ offers the bare minimum when it comes to public records monitoring. It monitors court records for crimes committed in your name, but it fails to offer sex offender or title monitoring. 

Title monitoring is crucial if you own a home or car, and sex offender monitoring is a good idea for everyone. It will let you know if a sex offender has moved into your neighborhood or registered with your name. The best services, like Aura, offer both of these features. 

Threat Resolution: 8/10

No identity protection service can guarantee you won’t fall victim to a thief. So, while monitoring is important for catching signs of fraud fast, threat resolution also has to be part of the equation.  

It sort of redeems itself here. It’s not catching vulnerabilities early, but at least it will help solve issues as they appear. 

Customer Service

I called IdentityIQ’s customer service team on a Wednesday at 10 a.m. and reached a U.S.-based representative in under two minutes. There weren’t too many machine prompts, I hardly sat on hold, and when I got to the representative, they were very helpful. 

All of that is great. The only downside is that IdentityIQ’s customer service team has limited hours (7 a.m. – 7 p.m. EST).

Twelve hours is generous, but the best services (like Aura) offer 24/7/365 customer service lines. That way, you can reach out with questions, issues, and concerns at any time. 

Concierge Restoration Services

IdentityQ offers identity restoration services with all of its plans, but only at the top tier do you receive true “white glove” restoration help. 

If you’re wondering what the difference is, I can explain. 

At the lower tiers, an ID restoration specialist will tell you what to do if you’re facing a threat. They’ll help you create a plan and walk you through its implementation. But, ultimately, you’re doing the work. 

At their top tier, it offers identity restoration with limited power of attorney (LPOA). With LPOA, restoration specialists can act on your behalf. They can issue disputes with creditors and financial institutions, file a police report, and speak with government agencies. 

Even with LPOA, you’ll have to do some things yourself, but IdentityIQ’s team will do most of the heavy lifting, which is ideal. While most identity protection services offer some sort of concierge restoration feature, few come with LPOA, so this is a big point in their favor. 

Lost Wallet Protection

It offers lost wallet assistance with all of its plans. So, in the event your wallet is lost or stolen, their service team will help you cancel credit cards, medical insurance cards, and even your passport. 

I only have ONE concern here. 

In my experience, I’m most likely to have my wallet stolen or lost when I travel to other countries (this survey would suggest I’m not alone in that). When I travel, I’m out of my routine and more likely to fall victim to a pickpocket or other thief than I am at home. And, if my wallet is stolen, I want to cancel everything ASAP!

But depending on where I’m traveling and the time the theft occurs, I may have to wait twelve hours to get in touch with IdentityIQ’s customer service team. That leaves a lot of time for a thief to do some damage. So, I’m more likely to call and cancel my cards myself than I am to use this service. 

Theft Insurance: 8/10

Theft insurance is an area where IdentityIQ stands out. 

Most identity protection services offer a flat $1 million in aggregate theft insurance coverage. The breakdowns might vary a little – some give more in lost wages, others provide higher limits for attorney fees – but mostly, they’re all about the same. 

IdentityIQ, though, offers $1 million for the main policyholder and $25,000 for each child on the plan with up to three children included (you can add more for an additional monthly fee). 

That’s a great deal! 

The main policyholder’s plan includes $1500 in lost wages for up to five weeks, stolen funds reimbursement, legal fees, and all reasonable expenses associated with recovering your identity. 

The only service I can think of that offers better insurance coverage than this is Aura. They offer $1 million per adult on your family plan, and they allow you to add up to five adults (that’s $5 million folks!). 

Family Plans: 6/10 

Speaking of families, it is notably lacking when it comes to family plans. 

You can cover yourself and up to three kids under eighteen with their top-tier plan. If needed, you can add additional children for $5 per month, but you can’t add on adults. So, if you want to cover your spouse (or college-aged kids, or parents, or in-laws), you’re out of luck.

Because of this, it might work well for single parents of young children and teens, but it’s not going to work for other types of families. 

For the best couples or family coverage, I suggest looking at Aura. They offer a lot more flexibility by allowing up to five adults on a family plan. And, each adult receives their own $1 million theft insurance policy.  

Ease of Use: 7/10

I’ll give IdentityIQ this – it’s an easy service to use. 

Signing up took next to no time. And, its servers are exceptionally fast-loading. I like their use of nested menus, and I found the interface to be intuitive overall. 

There are a couple of red flags with IdentityIQ’s services, though. 

For one, you have to call to cancel your plan. I’m not a fan of that because it typically means you’ll have to argue with a salesperson, and often those conversations end up being a huge time suck. 

It also shares your information with third parties. Per their service agreement, third parties are then allowed to contact you by phone, mail, e-mail, or text to try and sell you their services. 

Technically, you can opt out of this from your user account, but I’m not a fan of that sort of policy. Unless you take the time to read their rather lengthy privacy agreement, you wouldn’t know that you needed to opt out of it, and that feels sneaky to me. 

Additional Services: 5/10

IdentityIQ offers a broad range of additional services – at an additional price. 

Once you log in to the dashboard, you’ll see options for adding on a VPN, parental controls, a safe browser, and a password manager. Unfortunately, these services are only available at an additional fee. 

IdentityIQ is far from the most budget-friendly service I’ve reviewed, so I would expect some additional services to be included. The fact that they aren’t is a bit frustrating, and offering them this way makes me feel nickel and dimed. 

IdentityIQ’s additional services also aren’t that great. 

Their parental controls, for example, are okay but nowhere near as comprehensive as other services. Take Aura’s, for example. Theirs allows you to do all the typical things like block sites and set time limits, but it also goes above and beyond by including incredible safe gaming features. These allow parents to watch for signs of cyberbullying and harassment across popular gaming platforms. And Aura doesn’t charge extra for these services. 

If IdentityIQ is going to charge for each additional feature, I expect that feature to be incredible. From my experience, that’s not the case. 

Cost: 6/10 

IdentityIQ’s most basic plan, “Secure Plus,” is $9.99 per month. That’s not a bad price, but that level of coverage doesn’t get you very much. 

To get the benefits we’ve been discussing (like LPOA identity restoration services and $25k in children’s theft insurance), you have to purchase their top-level plan, which sells for $29.99 per month. That cost will go up if you opt into any of the added services, like a VPN or parental controls. 

I don’t think it offers enough value to justify its prices. Aura offers more comprehensive monitoring, family plans for up to five adults, and additional features that you don’t have to pay extra for at a better price point (especially when you use our discount code). 

So, if you’re looking for the best value (and who isn’t?), Aura WINS! 

FAQ

IdentityIQ Review Final Verdict: 6/10

IdentityIQ left me with a few major concerns. 

Its monitoring capabilities are subpar, it doesn’t offer real family plans, and its privacy policy is a little concerning. I also don’t like that it offers added services for additional monthly fees. Doing so can quickly make identity protection unaffordable. 

If you’re looking for better protection at a more affordable price point, Aura is the best choice. 

Aura’s monitoring is far more comprehensive and accurate. It also offers real family plans that allow you to include everyone, not just children under 18. And, Aura offers a full suite of added services, including a VPN, parental controls, and antivirus software at no additional fee.

When it comes to protecting your assets, your name, and your family, Aura is the best choice. Choosing IdentityIQ would be settling for a subpar service.

Read More:

Citations:

1. https://www.javelinstrategy.com/coverage-area/2017-identity-fraud

2. https://www.pnc.com/insights/personal-finance/protect/the-startling-rise-of-fraud-and-identity-theft-during-coronavirus-pandemic.html