In a Nutshell
pros
- Wide variety of fraud types monitored for
- Great option for families
- No charge for kids (under 18)
cons
- Credit monitoring not included on lower tiers
- Many users report difficulty getting hold of human support
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A Brilliant Solution For
Families that need identity theft protection for all members.
Groups such as companies and associations. ReliaShield can handle large-scale deployments and offers group discounts as well as a simplified enrollment process.
Those that want identity theft protection that covers a lot of bases.
How Does it Work?
ReliaShield is an identity theft and consumer crime protection service that offers monitoring designed to detect a number of identity theft threats.
ReliaShield primarily works by issuing its customers with notifications in the event of a detected event that could affect their account. Members are also able to access an online dashboard area where they can see the status of their account. This information can also be retrieved via the mobile app, which is available for both iOS and Android.
ReliaShield works through aggregating details about its customers, such as their name and place of residence, although it does not receive their Social Security Numbers (SSNs). These are then monitored against a variety of databases which are designed to help users detect fraudulent activity using these details, such as signing up for additional credit cards.
What Does This Service Watch Out For?
ReliaShield offers a tiered subscription service for both individual consumers and groups — with the number of threats monitored for increasing at each level, although basic comprehensive identity theft protection is offered at each tier.
The basic identity theft monitoring service covers:
- Financial theft, including the unlawful replication of account details
- Social security fraud, including Social Security Number (SSN) fraud
- Child identity theft
- Tax fraud including malicious fraudulent returns
- Criminal activity
- Employment fraud including the filing of employment, termination, and tax records associated with a place of work
- Title fraud
- Change of address monitoring, which reports on any requests received by the US Postal Service to redirect mail to another address
- Court records monitoring, which taps into legal databases to alert in the case that the customer’s name has been attached to any legal proceedings, whether as plaintiff or defendant
Additionally, ReliaShield offers personally identifiable information (PII) monitoring on both the regular internet (also called the “clearnet”) and the dark web.
Those that subscribe to ReliaShield Prime can also avail of:
- Neighborhood predator monitoring, which lists all registered sexual offenders living within a defined radius of your zip code
- Social media monitoring, which notifies users of any privacy risks associated with content that they are sharing.
- Single bureau credit monitoring, which reports back on any changes in users’ credit report with a single monitoring bureau
Prime and Elite users also receive:
- Data breach updates, which report on data breaches from major organizations that may affect the users.
- Non-credit loan monitoring (Elite only) which notifies users if a so-called “payday” loan has been offered on the back of any of their personal details.
- Bank account takeover notification (Elite only), which notifies users in the event that there is an attempt to add a third party to any of their bank accounts.
- Credit card application monitoring, which alerts users in the event that any of their personal details are used to apply for a credit card.
- 3 bureau credit monitoring — which upgrades the personal credit bureau report monitoring from one bureau to three.
- Bank account application monitoring (Elite only) which notifies of all attempts to open a new bank account using the customer’s name.
Recovery services: what can ReliaShield do if my identity is stolen?
In the event that customers receive a notification indicating that a potentially fraudulent event which may indicate an identity theft plot has been detected, they are immediately assigned to a ReliaShield recovery expert. The expert will walk them through the process of safeguarding their identity and prevent any further malicious action from being taken.
Specifically, the recovery specialist will ensures that:
The customer is not held responsible for any fraudulent transactions that may have resulted from bank account or payment card theft.
The customer’s original credit rating is restored following the event.
Additionally, all ReliaShield plans include a $1 million stolen funds and reimbursement guarantee. The guarantee covers all funds which customers cannot succeed in having reimbursed through alternative means, such as blocking credit cards and having any fraudulent transactions returned by their financial institution.
How Easy is it to Use?
ReliaShield is a very intuitive product to use. In order to enroll, users complete an online contact form which provides their basic personal information. After that, they complete an online payment and can then access the online user area where they can see any notifications that have been issued regarding attempts to steal their identity.
Pricing
ReliaShield offers plans for both individuals and groups.
Essential includes (among others) all basic types of identity theft as well as SSN monitoring, data breach updates, and wallet protection, which automatically reorders cards in customers’ wallets if they are stolen. Prime adds neighborhood predator monitoring, social media monitoring, and one bureau credit monitoring. On the Elite tier, customers enjoy all Essential and Prime features, upgrade credit bureau monitoring to three bureaux, and also receive credit card application notifications, new bank account application notifications, and a monthly credit score tracker.
Pricing: Individual Plans
Pricing: Family Plans
Help and Support
ReliaShield’s US based team of identify theft recovery experts, located in Nashville, TN, can be contacted toll-free during American office hours. Additionally, there is an email form for customers to open a ticket to get support.
While this should be enough to help most customers who need assistance with the recovery process, it would also have been helpful to see:
- International local phone numbers for those located abroad when an identity theft event occurs.
- An easily accessible online knowledgebase containing troubleshooting steps and explaining the various components of the online dashboard.
Bottom Line
ReliaShield is a very comprehensive identity theft monitoring service that offers a large variety of fraud detection services on all its tiers. For families, corporates, and other large organizations it is a very cost-effective provider. We would have liked to see better support resources, but otherwise strongly recommend this provider for identity theft prevention and monitoring.
