Experian IdentityWorks Review - Airtight ID Protection
Updated · Oct 19, 2022
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- Affordable plans
- Advanced credit monitoring
- Offers tri-bureau FICO scores
- CreditLock feature
- Lack of recovery services
- Additional charges for credit reports
Spyware, viruses, phishing, malware, keystroke logging—these are just some of the threats to our online identity and cybersecurity. How do we protect ourselves from this many-faced enemy?
Enter Experian IdentityWorks.
Experian is one of the largest credit bureaus globally. In 2010, it decided to use its power for good and launched IdentityWorks—an extensive identity protection service.
In this comprehensive Experian IdentityWorks review, we discuss its security and recovery capabilities and provide an in-depth analysis of its essential features.
Let’s see what we found.
What Is Experian IdentityWorks?
Experian IdentityWorks is a top-rated identity theft protection and credit monitoring company from the Experian credit bureau.
Experian IdentityWorks protection services provide extra features like credit lock/unlock, Social Security Number Tracing, and $1 million insurance.
Features
Experian IdentityWorks offers a wide range of comprehensive tools covering the three fundamental identity theft protection pillars—detect, protect, and resolve.
Family Protection
The advanced Experian family plan covers two adults and up to ten children. It includes daily dark web scans, control over who has access to your credit information, and dedicated live support for your entire family.
More and more children have access to the internet and stats show that identity thieves specifically target kids online.
With Experian IdentityWorks, you can provide your family with top-notch protection against ID theft, including features like dark web and social network monitoring, SSN surveillance, and arguably the best fraud protection services on the market.
ID Recovery
In the event of identity theft or any kind of fraudulent activity of the sort, Experian’s dedicated and highly trained Fraud Resolution team comes to the rescue with personalized support.
Experian will assign a Fraud Resolution Agent to your case to help you along every step of the recovery process. The impressive $1 million ID theft insurance will cover your expenses entirely.
Insurance
This is a ubiquitous feature of identity theft protection services. If your data is compromised in any way, the company will cover the expenses related to the identity fraud recovery—accountants, lawyers, etc.
Experian ID works offers customers up to $1 million insurance with zero deductible in the event of identity theft. This policy covers expenses like fraudulent EFTs, lost wages, legal fees, and, if needed, private investigator costs.
CreditLock
This feature is unique to this company. It allows you to lock your Experian Credit File and save your most valuable information from hacking.
With this service, you get excellent Experian fraud protection—you can prevent unauthorized access to your credit file and receive real-time alerts if someone tries to apply for credit in your name.
CreditLock is extremely convenient—unlike Security Freeze, you can lock and unlock your Experian Credit File any time you want without restrictions.
Lost Wallet Assistance
This feature is another mainstay of identity theft protection services. It helps you report lost and stolen cards and, in some cases, even enables you to apply for new ones.
The Experian ID works Lost Wallet Assistance feature does precisely that. It helps you cancel all your cards and apply for new ones when your wallet is lost or stolen.
Experian agents will also assist you in notifying banks, creditors, and providers. They will even coordinate with government agencies to replace your licenses and IDs.
Alerts
Experian IdentityWorks has many convenient premium Experian monitoring alerts that ensure you’ll never miss potential identity theft threats or security breaches.
With IdentityWorks, you get access to some of the best identity theft monitoring and alerts. For example, SSN monitoring warns you about any aliases associated with your social security number.
You also get notified about any fraudulent financial account activity, attempted credit inquiries on your Experian file, and FICO score alerts from all three major credit bureaus.
Other Experian IdentityWorks alert services include:
- Identity validation—notifies you if anyone attempts a background check on you
- Court record alerts—let you know about reported crimes in the court system against you
- Sex offender alerts—warns you about registered sex offenders moving into your neighborhood
Experian IdentityWorks Downsides
- Experian has had three data breaches in the last five years, including a large-scale leak in Brazil on January 20th, 2021.
- Experian IdentityWorks doesn’t offer 24/7 support—you can only get a hold of them during business hours.
- The company’s ID theft resolution services are limited compared to those of most of its competitors.
- Experian IdentityWorks imposes additional charges for credit report copies.
Plans & Pricing
There are three Experian IdentityWorks price plans—one individual and two family packages:
It comes with dark web monitoring, identity theft insurance for up to $500,000, limited alerts, Experian CreditLock, and credit report monitoring.
It includes $1 million insurance, full alerts with added social networking, file-sharing network monitoring, three-bureau credit monitoring, and quarterly FICO scores.
It has the same features as the equivalent one-adult plan, plus child identity protection for up to ten children. If you pay $19.99/month (or $199.99 billed yearly), you can get coverage for two adults instead of one. The rest of the features are virtually the same as in the previous plan.
On top of the features from the previous plan, you get extra monitoring, alerts, and quarterly three-bureau FICO scores for one adult and up to ten children. For $29.99/month billed monthly ($299 billed yearly), you add another adult to your plan.
You can use an Experian IdentityWorks coupon to get the Plus membership for FREE for one month (after which you’ll be billed $9.99/month).
Support
Unlike most leading identity protection companies, Experian ID works doesn’t provide 24/7 support. The Customer Service Center is available from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm PT during weekdays and 8:00 am to 5:00 pm PT on weekends.
For a service for which timing is crucial, this is far from ideal and it has been brought up in more than one Experian IdentityWorks review.
The company partially makes up for it by providing dedicated live support for the whole family (although that isn’t available 24/7 either). You also get access to Identity Restoration Specialists that can help resolve identity theft cases quickly and efficiently over the phone.
Experian also has a pretty extensive knowledge base. You can type your query in the search bar and a detailed article answering will likely pop up, helping you learn more about identity protection and online safety.
Ease of Use
The mainstay of any Experian IdentityWorks review is how easy it is to use the service. Users praise its incredibly intuitive interface and straightforward layout of information.
You don’t have to be a tech wizard to use Experian. Once you’re logged in, IdentityWorks will direct you to the web console. Everything is readily available and easily accessible in the menu tab.
The Experian IdentityWorks app is also very convenient, providing access to essential information like FICO and credit scores.
You can enable notifications to receive fraud alerts and the CreditLock feature.
Experian IdentityWorks User Reviews
We at Web Triubnal read numerous identity theft protection reviews to get a feel of user opinions about the company.
Experian has experienced three major credit breaches in the US, South Africa, and Brazil in the last five years. Despite these massive leaks, the company managed to preserve its reputation—nearly every Experian IdentityWorks review as of 2022 is positive.
Customers seem to like the fact that the Experian membership fee is affordable. The platform is extremely easy to use, helpful, and safe. Of course, the occasional complaint about the service also appears.
The most lengthy Experian IdentityWorks review on Reddit goes into detail about the poor quality of customer support. Users are also dissatisfied that Experian charges an additional fee if you want a copy of your credit report.
We would like to add another underreported fact. Experian IdentityWorks was hacked several times, so customer’s personal data might not be as safe as suggested.
Is Experian IdentityWorks Worth It?
While there are some evident Experian IdentityWorks problems, it’s still a worthwhile identity protection service. When it comes to restoration and recovery tools, the company is lagging behind some of its competitors.
But despite these Experian IdentityWorks complaints, it is very affordable and offers attractive family protection features.
It also comes with substantial identity theft insurance, advanced Experian IdentityWorks credit monitoring, and timely alerts. It packs all the essential tools for a reliable ID theft protection service.
Alternatives of Experian IdentityWorks
Experian IdentityWorks might be one of the leading identity theft and fraud protection services, but it is by no means the only one.
We took the liberty of researching some Experian ID works competitors to provide you with some options.
LifeLock vs Experian
The two companies offer slightly different sets of features. If getting top identity theft protection, monitoring, and alerts at an affordable price is your goal, Experian might be a better option.
LifeLock has unique cybersecurity features that include a built-in VPN for browser security and access to Norton’s award-winning antivirus software.
LifeLock also provides personal expense compensation, a 60-day money-back guarantee, plus some of the best ID theft protection tools in 2022. Despite coming in at a higher price, LifeLock has a more comprehensive internet security solution.
Identity Guard vs Experian
Identity Guard is one of the highest-rated identity theft protection services on the market. All its plans come with IBM Watson artificial intelligence—a continually scanning tool that detects more threats and keeps you safe.
Because it has the advantage of being a credit bureau itself, Experian’s biggest strength is its credit monitoring. It's the best bet for people who want extra protection features like CreditLock and more frequent credit and FICO scores.
Final Verdict
Upon weighing up the pros and cons of Experian IdentityWork, we found that it is a very affordable and competitive product with excellent credit protection capabilities.
Experian IdentityWorks is backed by one of the largest credit bureaus on the planet. Thanks to that, you get access to advanced security, monitoring, and alerts.
There are some concerns regarding Experian’s security because of the three major data breaches it experienced. But the service undoubtedly provides very comprehensive identity protection solutions.
It’s also incredibly intuitive and easy to use, so it’s perfect for everyone—from financial wizards to novices with limited financial experience.
If you don’t believe us, sign up for the free trial and try it out yourself—just like we did for this Experian IdentityWorks review.
Cancelling your Experian account is a notoriously tricky process, but we found a couple of ways to do it. If you want to cancel via email, you have to contact support at [email protected] with your Membership ID, full name, and email address.
Cancelling Online is a little trickier. You can only do it if you signed up through usa.experian.com.
You have to sign in and go to your profile (if asked if you’d like to add Equifax and TransUnion, select “No, Show Me Only My Experian Credit Information”). Select “My Membership,” choose a reason for the cancellation from the dropdown menu, and confirm the cancellation.
Experian IdentityWorks has two plans—IdentityWorks Plus and IdentityWorks Premium. Their price varies according to the number of members allowed. The cost for the individual package starts at $9.99/month and goes up to $29.99/month for the most advanced family subscription.
For the full pricing list, check out the Plans & Pricing section of this Experian IdentityWorks review.
Experian has had three data breaches in the last five years, including a large-scale breach in Brazil on January 20th, 2021. There is a reason to question how safe their protection protocols are.
Credit monitoring is definitely worth it. It helps protect your credit history. You can’t do much to stop a data breach, but you can shield yourself from the consequences—identity theft and fraudulent activity.
Experian has been around for 25 years and is one of the Big Three credit bureaus. Later, it launched IdentityWorks—an extensive identity protection service.
Experian’s identity protection service, IdentityWorks, has two individual price plans—IdentityWorks Plus for $9.99 and IdentityWorks Premium for $19.99. The family subscriptions are a bit more pricey but still very affordable.
For the full pricing list, check out the Plans & Pricing section of this Experian IdentityWorks review.
Experian IdentityWorks is a legitimate identity protection company backed by one of the world’s three largest credit bureaus.
Branko is a round-the-clock tech geek and loving it. His ideal vacation destination is the Akihabara District (or really any place he can take his computer). If there’s a server out there, count on him to find out what it’s made of… and tell you all about it.
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