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Included in our guides on the best identity theft protection services and the best credit monitoring services, PrivacyGuard is a unique company that splits its credit monitoring and identity theft protection into two different plans, merging the two in its premium plan. PrivacyGuard offers stand-out features like credit card and debit card monitoring, dedicated fraud resolution agents, and a credit score simulator. That said, it lacks a family plan and annual discounts. Read on to see if PrivacyGuard is right for you.
PrivacyGuard Review
With three services — Identity Protection, Credit Protection, and Total Protection — customers can choose between identity theft protection, credit monitoring, or combine the two services.
You'll get the most value from PrivacyGuard's cheapest plan, its identity theft protection service. It provides comprehensive security, especially considering its price. Though you won't get any credit monitoring features, you're not missing out on too much; some of the best credit monitoring services out there are completely free.
That said, PrivacyGuard's credit monitoring service does offer more value than a free service. Its stand-out feature is its credit score simulator, giving users a rough idea of how certain credit-related decisions will affect their credit scores, such as a credit builder loan or a new credit card.
That said, PrivacyGuard has some noticeable downsides. While PrivacyGuard's identity protection plan is very competitively priced, its Total Protection plan is comparable, if not more expensive, than other identity theft protection services. Additionally, PrivacyGuard doesn't offer family plans if you want multiple people covered, though its Total Protection plan can monitor up to 10 children's Social Security numbers.
Reviews of PrivacyGuard's iOS and Android apps are overwhelmingly positive. On the Apple app store, PrivacyGuard received an average of 4.8 stars across 1,600 reviews. On the Google Play store, PrivacyGuard received an average of 4.6 stars across 790 reviews.
PrivacyGuard Plans
PrivacyGuard's three services are
Under all three plans, PrivacyGuard gives you access to experts that will advise you on how to recover from identity identity theft and how to resolve other credit-related issues, such as errors on your credit report. You also gain access to its high-rated mobile app and secured browser.
Outside of these services, there's very little overlap between PrivacyGuard's identity protection and credit monitoring services, so we'll go through each service individually and expand on certain features.
PrivacyGuard Identity Protection
Cost:
PrivacyGuard's identity protection service offers comprehensive security for a low monthly price compared to other identity theft protection services.
Identity monitoring: PrivacyGuard will monitor your personal information, documents, and financial accounts. This includes Social Security number monitoring, driver's license and passport monitoring, bank account monitoring, and credit card and debit card monitoring. You'll receive a notification if anything changes or a red flag appears.
You may receive some of these features through other services like credit card monitoring with your card provider. However, public records and dark web monitoring are particularly notable as you're not likely to find these services outside an identity theft protection service.
$1 million ID theft insurance: PrivacyGuard will reimburse you for losses due to identity theft and fees associated with recovering your identity.
Stolen wallet protection: A particularly useful feature, PrivacyGuard will help you cancel and replace all the cards in your wallet if your wallet is stolen or lost.
Dedicated ID fraud resolution agents: If dealing with a stolen identity, PrivacyGuard will assign a fraud resolution agent to your case. They can help you recover your identity and recoup any losses you've suffered as a result of the theft. This is a must-have feature for identity theft protection services.
PrivacyGuard Credit Protection
Cost:
Credit monitoring services notify you of any changes in your credit reports, so you can stay on top of your credit and act if you don't recognize a change in your credit report. While PrivacyGuard provides this service, it also provides supplementary resources that will help you build credit.
Tri-bureau credit monitoring: Tri-bureau credit monitoring will alert you of any changes to your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus. It's worth noting that credit monitoring for all three bureaus should be expected if you're paying $20 per month.
Monthly credit scores and reports: In addition to credit monitoring, you'll also receive a monthly credit score and credit report. This can help you catch any errors you see on your credit report. PrivacyGuard experts will help you dispute any errors on your credit reports.
It's worth noting that you can request a free credit report from the credit bureaus every week through AnnualCreditReport.com.
Credit score simulator: PrivacyGuard's credit score simulator can show you how certain actions will affect your credit scores, such as a new credit card or loan. This can be helpful when improving your credit score.
Credit information hotline: PrivacyGuard has experts available to walk you through your credit-related questions and your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Financial calculator suite: PrivacyGuard provides several credit-related calculators that give you an idea of your monthly loan payments and purchase price based on the terms you qualified for. The suite includes calculators for auto loans, mortgages, and personal loans.
PrivacyGuard Total Protection
Cost:
Total Protection is essentially just a combination of the credit monitoring and identity theft plans for a lower price than if you had signed up for both features. However, it provides a few services not included with either of the prior plans.
- Registered offender locator
- Emergency travel assistance
- Medical records reimbursement
- Children's Social Security number monitoring
How Much Does PrivacyGuard Cost?
PrivacyGuard offers its identity theft protection service for $9.99 per month and its credit monitoring service for $19.99 per month. You can get both under Total Protection for $24.99, theoretically saving you $5 every month if you were in the market for both services.
Before you sign up for any of these services, you can sign up for PrivacyGuard's 14-day trial for $1. There are no discounts for annual PrivacyGuard subscriptions or family plans.
How to Buy PrivacyGuard
While you should always know what you want out of an identity theft protection service before signing up, this becomes especially important if you decide to sign up for PrivacyGuard since its credit monitoring service and identity theft service don't overlap unless you buy into the Total Protection plan.
Once you decide on a service, you should enroll in PrivacyGuard's two-week trial for $1. Be prepared to provide some personal information including your Social Security number, birthday, and a few details confirming your identity. Once the trial period ends, you'll automatically start paying full price for your plan.
Compare PrivacyGuard
PrivacyGuard's basic identity theft plan excels next to comparable plans from other identity theft protection services. While this is the service we'd recommend, PrivacyGuard's full service holds up fairly well against the premium plans offered by its competitors, though it's on the more expensive side.
It's worth noting that many of PrivacyGuard's competitors offer family discounts, which PrivacyGuard does not.
Company | Monthly subscription cost | Annual subscription cost |
$24.99 | N/A | |
$34.99 | $239.88 | |
$29.99 | $215.88 | |
$12 | $108 | |
$19.95 | N/A | |
$13.99 or $8.99 based on Costco membership type | N/A | |
$29.95 | $299.50 |
PrivacyGuard vs. IdentityForce
When they're at their best (and most expensive), IdentityForce's services eclipse those from PrivacyGuard. IdentityForce offers the same services and then some, such as its VPN, social media monitoring, and anti-phishing software. However, PrivacyGuard's lighter identity theft protection plan beats IdentityForce's basic plan, offering comprehensive identity protection for just $9.99.
However, IdentityForce still has PrivacyGuard beat when it comes to quality-of-life features, such as its annual discount and its family plans.
Read our IdentityForce review here.
PrivacyGuard vs. Aura
Aura is a tough service to compete against, offering comprehensive identity theft protection, credit monitoring, and cybersecurity measures for $12 monthly. As such, PrivacyGuard struggles to compete against Aura. That said, PrivacyGuard's credit monitoring service and its premium service offers a credit score simulator that allows you to see how certain information would affect your credit score, like a loan or new credit card. This is a great feature if you're looking to build credit.
Read our Aura review here.
PrivacyGuard Identity Theft Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does PrivacyGuard offer a trial period?
PrivacyGuard offers a 14-day trial for $1. This automatically rolls over into the full-price plan.
Can I cancel PrivacyGuard?
You can cancel PrivacyGuard by calling 1-800-374-8273 or emailing service@privacyguard.com. You can also cancel PrivacyGuard through your account interface.
How can I contact PrivacyGuard customer service?
You can reach PrivacyGuard's customer service line at 1-800-374-8273 or by emailing service@privacyguard.com.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Evaluated PrivacyGuard
Most identity theft protection services follow a tiered pricing system, offering a greater variety of features with their more expensive plans. Once you reach the highest tier of service, you'll find a similar set of features across all services, which is why we pay particular attention to how high up their tier system you have to get to unlock certain features and how much the most expensive tier costs.
We pay particular attention to when a service offers dark web monitoring and public records monitoring, as these two features are difficult to replicate. We also look at whether an identity theft protection service includes credit monitoring and how comprehensive that monitoring is (single-bureau monitoring, tri-bureau monitoring, etc.) We also look for features that help the customer recover their identity if it's stolen.
For example, you can get dark web monitoring and public records monitoring with PrivacyGuard's basic identity theft service without having to sign up for the Total Protection plan. Compare this to a service like Norton LifeLock, which requires you to upgrade to its middle-tier service for public records monitoring.
While this is our primary consideration when we rate identity theft protection companies, we also look at a company's Better Business Bureau rating to see how responsive they are to their customers. We also consider other miscellaneous features like free trial periods, mobile apps, and refund policies.
You can find our methodology on how we rate identity theft protection services here.