Senior citizens looking for identity theft protection have different requirements than say a young couple in their thirties raising a family. It’s a question I often get asked myself as an individual approaching retirement age.
First, seniors who are on fixed income may not need wage-loss protection or care about some of the more tech-oriented gizmos like IDVault or Mobile Lockbox, features that Identity Guard offers. Second, seniors have to be weary since as a demographic they’re constantly targeted by fraudsters and scam artists. Face it, we grew up in a more trusting time and the world around us has become increasingly cynical and far more dangerous.
Most seniors I talk to want affordable identity theft protection that will cover a spouse without paying for any of the features designed for a younger market. Also, seniors should look for a service with excellent customer service. The last thing any senior citizen wants to hear are words like “forum” or “chat online”. Should you become a victim of identity theft, you’ll want a resolution expert assisting you through the recovery process.
No service can completely guarantee protection but almost all services can drastically reduce your exposure to identity theft and will guarantee complete recovery if you do become a victim while under their protection.
So What’s Best For Seniors?
- Read our detailed TrustedID review
After looking at all the available plans, TrustedID’s individual or family plan is the one I recommend for seniors who fall into this category.
Family Pricing
TrustedID will cover an entire household for $13.46/month and that means it doesn’t matter if you have just a spouse or your kids have moved back in. (In this economy, not an uncommon situation.) TrustedID will cover the entire household. Lifelock on the other hand, will charge you a new subscription per adult.
Credit Freezes
TrustedID goes beyond fraud alerts and is the only service to offer credit freezes on all three of the credit bureaus. An AARP article on identity theft recommends placing credit freezes. For more information, read our article on the differences between fraud alerts and credit freezes.
Medical Benefits Protection
An increasing form of identity theft fraud that seniors are especially vulnerable to is medical benefit fraud. TrustedID will review your medical benefit statements to ensure that you and your family are the only ones being treated with your medical benefits.
TrustedID Fraud Scanning
While TrustedID isn’t a credit monitoring service like Identity Guard or ProtectMyID, it does offer sophisticated scanning services that will scan the black market internet sites where identity thieves buy and sell information. TrustedID will scan for your credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account numbers, name and addresses. If they find that any of your information has been compromised, you’ll be alerted immediately.
24 On-Call Protection Specialists
Sometimes, you just need to speak to a live person. TrustedID has On-Call Protection Specialists that will assist you if you think anybody is trying to steal your identity.
TrustedID is a highly recommended service for identity theft protection and especially for seniors, it’s the protection service that gives you everything you need at a price that’s affordable.