Paying for a credit monitoring service may be the last thing on your mind, but it can prove to be money well spent. Credit monitoring services like IdentityForce® can provide real-time alerts that can indicate signs of potential fraud, allowing you to take action faster than if you monitored your credit on your own.
IdentityForce offers two paid plans — IdentityForce® UltraSecure and IdentityForce® UltraSecure+Credit — that can help you spot signs of potential fraud across more resources than if you were using a free credit monitoring service.
A free service is great if you want a simple way to look at changes to one or two of your credit reports without an added monthly fee. But a paid service is a top-notch choice if you want an in-depth look at all three of your credit reports (known as triple-bureau protection) and a wide-range of checks for your personal information on the dark web, court records and post office.
But even among paid services, there's a difference in price an quality of coverage. Here’s a breakdown of what the two IdentityForce plans have to offer — plus which plan is considered the best.
IdentityForce®
Cost
UltraSecure Individual: $19.90 per month or $199.90 per year; UltraSecure+Credit Individual: $34.90 per month or $349.90 per year; UltraSecure Family: $24.90 per month or $249.90 per year; UltraSecure+Credit Family: $39.90 per month or $399.90 per year
Credit bureaus monitored
3-bureau credit monitoring, alerts and reports: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion®, with UltraSecure+Credit Individual and UltraSecure+Credit Family plans only
Credit scoring model used
VantageScore® 3.0, with UltraSecure+Credit Individual and UltraSecure+Credit Family plans only
Dark web scan
Yes, with all plans
Identity theft insurance
Yes, at least $1 million with all plans
Terms apply.
What IdentityForce credit monitoring services offer
IdentityForce UltraSecure and IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit both alert you of potential fraudulent use of your personal information — whether that’s someone selling your credit card number on the dark web or using your medical insurance.
However, the two plans vary in cost and are quite different when it comes to which credit reports they monitor, which is a key factor in staying on top of fraud on your credit reports.
Here’s how the two compare across four key factors.
Cost
Here's the costs for each plan:
- IdentityForce UltraSecure: $9.99 per month or $99.90 per year
- IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit: $13.99 per month or $139.90 per year
Winner: UltraSecure is the best low-cost option, but you may be willing to pay for the UltraSecure+Credit and its premium benefits.
Identity insurance
Paid credit monitoring services are known for offering identity theft insurance, and IdentityForce is no different. Both UltraSecure and UltraSecure+Credit provide standard coverage up to $1 million to help you recover out-of-pocket expenses and lost wages when your identity is compromised.
Winner: Tie, since both plans offer up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.
How many credit bureaus are monitored
When you’re looking for comprehensive credit monitoring, services that look at your information across all three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — are the best. This is known as triple-bureau protection and is key to staying on top of potential fraud.
After all, the purpose of a credit monitoring service should be to scan your credit file and alert you of any changes. In order to get a holistic view of your credit, you'll need to monitor all three credit reports since one report may show information the other two don't.
Only the UltraSecure+Credit plan provides alerts on all three of your credit reports. The UltraSecure plan doesn’t monitor any of your credit reports.
Winner: IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit, since it has triple-bureau protection.
Dark web scanning and fraud alerts
While there are ways you can monitor your credit reports by yourself, it’s a bit harder to check if your personal information appears on the dark web. Thankfully, both IdentityForce plans monitor thousands of websites, chat rooms, blogs and other data sources for illegal trading and selling of your personal information, including your social security number, driver's license, credit and debit card numbers and much more.
Additional fraud alerts include: checking if your personal information appears on millions of criminal and court records and if your mail has been redirected through USPS without your authorization. You can also receive alerts for potential fraud on your bank, credit card and investment accounts, as well as the use of your medical ID, social security number and address.
Winner: Tie, since both services offer the same dark web surveillance and fraud alerts.
Bottom line
If you’re looking for the most in-depth credit monitoring service, the IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit is the plan for you. It’s the only one that provides triple-bureau credit monitoring on top of the dark web and fraud alerts that come standard with both plans.
If you already use a free credit monitoring service like CreditWise®, you may lean toward the cheaper IdentityForce UltraSecure plan. Pairing the two can provide you with the added fraud alerts you don’t typically get with a free service.
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To learn more about IdentityForce®, visit their website.
