LifeLock Ultimate Plus identity theft protection review
Our Verdict
LifeLock with Norton 360 is kind of an irresistible combination of identity-theft-protection and antivirus software, and it has finally increased its frequency of credit reports and scores.
For
- Includes Norton 360 security suite
- Easy-to-use interface
- Button for TransUnion credit lock
- Comprehensive identity protection
- Generous insurance plans
Against
- Very expensive family plans
- No credit simulator
Tom's Guide Verdict
LifeLock with Norton 360 is kind of an irresistible combination of identity-theft-protection and antivirus software, and it has finally increased its frequency of credit reports and scores.
Pros
- +
Includes Norton 360 security suite
- +
Like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use interface
- +
Push for TransUnion credit lock
- +
Comprehensive identity protection
- +
Generous insurance plans
Cons
- -
Very expensive family plans
- -
No credit simulator
LifeLock Ultimate Plus: Specs
Frequency of credit reports: Equifax daily, other 2 monthly
Frequency of credit scores: Equifax daily, other two monthly
Credit-improvement simulator: No
Address-change monitoring: Yep
Data breach alerts: Yes
Investment account monitoring: Yeah
Medical records monitoring: Yes
Payday loan monitoring: Yes
Sexual activity offender alert: Yes
Security software: Norton 360 Deluxe antivirus suite for all devices
Championship-change alerts: Yes
Two-factor hallmark: No
The proper name "Norton 360 with LifeLock" might exist a mouthful, just the service comprehensively protects your computers, your mobile device and your identity. Until recently, it lagged a chip in credit monitoring, but has caught up with its rivals, and LifeLock'south top-end program watches your files with all three major credit agencies.
That programme, Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus, also keeps an center on your bank, investment and credit-bill of fare accounts, as well as your domicile title, while letting you apace lock your TransUnion credit file with a few mouse clicks. It even lets yous know if someone is trying to steal your phone number.
If your identity is stolen while you're protected by LifeLock, the company'southward insurance plan will reimburse you for up to $3 meg in lost funds, lost wages and the expenses of setting your identity straight.
On the other mitt, the Ultimate Plus programme is rather expensive and doesn't quite mensurate up on service and support, even though it ranks highly in our listing of the best identity theft protection services. It recently switched from providing credit reports just once a year (which the credit agencies already did for gratis) to providing them daily for Equifax and monthly for Experian and TransUnion.
Our Editors' Choice, IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit, provides quarterly credit reports from all iii bureaus and offers near of the identity protections LifeLock Ultimate Plus has, but for a lot less than what LifeLock charges.
Read on for the remainder of our LifeLock review.
LifeLock: Costs and what'due south covered
LifeLock has dozens of plans available, but many are legacy products yous can no longer sign up for.
The company's four main plans start with LifeLock Standard, a standalone identity-theft-protection service that includes basics such as night-spider web monitoring, Norton's Privacy Monitor and monitoring of your Equifax credit file. Information technology provides up to $1 1000000 for identity-restoration aid, $25,000 for lost funds and $25,000 for expenses.
Using LifeLock Standard costs $12 a month or $125 annually, with discounts for the first year. That's reasonable, but you tin get similar protection from IdentityIQ'due south Secure plan for $7 per calendar month.
LifeLock's Select, Reward and Ultimate Plus plans all include the Norton 360 Palatial security suite to provide as close to full digital protection as exists.
If yous don't already have antivirus software, getting it equally role of a LifeLock package is not a bad bargain. (You can get Reward and Ultimate Plus without Norton 360, but y'all'll save just $10 a year at nearly.)
Norton 360 Deluxe normally costs about $100 a year on its own and includes unlimited virtual private network (VPN) access, a password manager, online backup space and excellent malware protection for PCs, Macs and iOS and Android devices.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Select sells for $15 a calendar month, or $150 a year, with discounts for the first yr. Its identity protections and insurance covers are the same as the Standard plan, only it comes with Norton 360 Palatial for five systems and 100GB of online storage infinite.
The Norton 360 with LifeLock Advantage programme bumps up the lost-funds and expenses insurance coverage to $100,000 each. Advantage covers upwardly to 10 systems with Norton 360 Deluxe, monitors your banking concern and credit-card accounts and provides 250GB of cloud storage.
It also adds LifeLock's new Phone Takeover Monitoring, which lets you lot know if someone is trying to steal your phone number by switching your number to a new carrier or a new SIM menu. Because phone numbers are (unfortunately) tied to identity, a stolen number can ofttimes lead to fraudulent purchases, hijacked online accounts or fifty-fifty cryptocurrency theft.
LifeLock Reward dips its toe further into credit monitoring with one Equifax credit study and 1 VantageScore three.0 credit score based on that report every calendar month. Information technology costs $25 a month or $250 a year, with kickoff-twelvemonth discounts.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus is 1 of the nigh complete identity-theft-protection packages y'all tin can get. It adds a sexual practice-offender warning and home-title monitoring, checks on your investment accounts and covers you up to $one million for identity help, $1 meg for lost funds and $1 million for expenses — each. It includes an unlimited number of licenses for Norton 360 as well equally 500GB of online storage space.
It fully embraces credit monitoring, keeping an eye on your files at all three credit bureaus and providing daily Equifax credit reports and VantageScore 3.0 credit scores. Experian and TransUnion credit reports and credit scores are available monthly. But at $35 a month or $350 a year, LifeLock Ultimate Plus is among the most expensive identity-theft-protection plans effectually.
The most recent additions are the Norton 360 with LifeLock for Family plans, which encompass two adults and, optionally, equally many as 5 children up to age 17. But be fix to pay a lot.
The Select Family plan costs $275 a yr or $27 a calendar month without kids, and $390 a year or $39 a calendar month with kids. The Reward Family plan sells for $490 a twelvemonth or $48 a month for a couple, and $600 a yr or $60 a month with kids. Finally, the top-of-the-line Ultimate Plus Family programme goes for $690 a year or $seventy a month without kids, and $820 a yr or $82 a calendar month with kids.
By comparison, IdentityForce'due south family plans, the pricier of which is similar to LifeLock Ultimate Plus, cost $25 and $36 per month, albeit with no yearly discounts. IdentityIQ Secure Max has fewer identity-protection features just more than credit monitoring and covers up to three kids for $thirty per calendar month.
LifeLock also has a Junior plan to cover individual children up to 18 years old, which costs $vi per calendar month or $65 annually per kid. It mirrors the Advantage plan with upwardly to $100,000 for the restitution of stolen funds merely lacks any kind of credit monitoring or antivirus software.
Founded in 2005, LifeLock had a checkered first decade, with one co-founder resigning for tellingquestionable tales about his past and the other having his identity stolen numerous times afterwards he put his Social Security number on billboards to demonstrate his organized religion in LifeLock's powers.
In 2008, Experian sued LifeLock for allegedly abusing the credit bureau's fraud-warning organization; the case was subsequently settled out of court. The Federal Trade Commission fined LifeLock twice, first in 2010 for deceptive advertising and not properly securing customer data, and and then again in 2015 for not adhering to the terms of the settlement reached after the first fine.
Symantec, one-time parent company of Norton, bought LifeLock in 2017, and the negative headlines dried upwards. Simply the firm still scores a 2.5 out of a possible 5 on the Consumer Diplomacy website. Information technology recently garnered an F from the Better Business concern Agency, although information technology now has an A+ rating. The BBB site still displays many recent negative customer reviews and complaints most continued billing after service cancellations.
Norton LifeLock said that the recent F course was the consequence of non receiving BBB notifications during its transition from the enterprise-oriented Symantec (sold to Broadcom in 2019) to the current consumer-focused NortonLifeLock corporate structure. Either way, the company has a lot of work to do in the customer support and service department.
| LifeLock Standard | Norton 360 with LifeLock Select | Norton 360 with LifeLock Advantage | Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus | |
| Monthly cost | $12 | $xv | $25 | $35 |
| Yearly cost | $125 | $150 | $250 | $350 |
| Family unit plan | n/a | $39, two adults and upwardly to 5 kids | $threescore, ii adults and upwardly to v kids | $82, 2 adults and up to 5 kids |
| Credit reports provided | None | None | Equifax | Equifax, Experian, TransUnion |
| Credit bureaus monitored | Equifax | Equifax | Equifax | Equifax, Experian, TransUnion |
| Frequency of credit reports & scores | None | None | Monthly | Daily for Equifax, monthly for other two |
| Type of credit score | None | None | VantageScore iii.0 | VantageScore iii.0 |
| Credit-lock/freeze button | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Depository financial institution, card accounts monitored | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sexual activity offender alert | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Security software | None | Norton 360 Deluxe antivirus suite for five devices | Norton 360 Deluxe antivirus suite for 10 devices | Norton 360 Deluxe antivirus suite for all devices |
| Investment account monitoring | No | No | No | Yes |
| Court record monitoring | No | No | Yep | Yes |
| Title-change alerts | No | No | No | Yes |
| Max. ID-theft coverage | $1 million | $1 one thousand thousand | $ane one thousand thousand | $1 million |
| Max. expenses coverage | $25,000 | $25,000 | $100,000 | $1 meg |
| Max. monetary loss payout | $25,000 | $25,000 | $100,000 | $i one thousand thousand |
LifeLock: How we tested
In the late summer of 2020, I signed up with five of the biggest identity-theft-protection services, including the Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus plan. All the subscriptions were paid for past me and later on reimbursed by Tom'southward Guide.
After I installed the LifeLock mobile app on my Samsung Galaxy Notation xx, I logged in about days using the app or my Lenovo ThinkPad T470 computer over the course of three months. In improver to checking on LifeLock'southward alerts, notifications and changes to my credit and identity condition, I checked my credit scores.
I used the utilities and antivirus software. However, LifeLock doesn't provide any credit simulators to try out what-if scenarios, and so I couldn't test those. Finally, I checked in with the LifeLock back up staff and recorded how long it took them to respond. At the end, I cancelled the service and took notation of how easy that process was.
LifeLock: Credit scores and identity monitoring
LifeLock'due south strengths lie more in identity-theft-protection than in credit monitoring. Until the summer of 2021, subsequently we initially posted this review, getting a credit report from whatsoever of the Large Iii credit bureaus with LifeLock's acme Ultimate Plus program happened only one time a year — no amend than what you tin go for free from annualcreditreport.com.
LifeLock must have realized that its rivals were outdistancing information technology with more frequent credit reports and scores, so in June 2021 information technology boosted the frequency of Equifax credit reports and scores to monthly for LifeLock Advantage subscribers, and daily for LifeLock Ultimate Plus subscribers. Ultimate Plus also at present gets Experian and TransUnion credit reports and scores monthly.
Those credit scores employ the VantageScore three.0 model, which is not quite the aforementioned equally the FICO credit-score models that most lenders still apply. But they roughly parallel the FICO scores.
In terms of identity protection, LifeLock scans the open and "night" portions of the spider web for more than 100 different types of personal data, such every bit your name, Social Security number, street addresses, email addresses and fifty-fifty, as of recently, gamer tags.
There's likewise Home Title Monitoring, which looks for signs that someone is trying to remove or add your name on a belongings deed or dwelling house title or attempting to refinance your mortgage. This service comes included with LifeLock Ultimate Plus; otherwise, you can subscribe to Home Title Monitoring every bit a stand-alone service for $100 per twelvemonth.
LifeLock Ultimate Plus as well monitors your bank, investment and credit-menu accounts, watches for U.S. Postal Service address changes, checks with payday-loan companies and peer-to-peer lending operations online.
It can alert you of unusual activity on financial accounts and of changes in recurring charges. Information technology besides keeps an eye on people-search sites similar Spokeo and Intellius for indications that your name or other data might popular up besides frequently.
LifeLock: Insurance and services
While its competitors limit their identity-theft insurance payouts to $1 million for lost funds, lost wages and expenses together, LifeLock Ultimate Plus triples the potential corporeality of coverage to restore your identity and credit.
It has three split buckets of money that include upwards to $1 1000000 for the costs of identity restoration (including fees for lawyers, experts and accountants), up to $1 million for expenses (like travel, court fees, lost piece of work and the costs new documents) and $i million for coin lost direct to identity thieves.
LifeLock: Notifications and alerts
LifeLock'southward alerts tin can accomplish you lot via email, text message or telephone call, or may be displayed in the web interface or the mobile app. Alert thresholds can be adjusted so that they don't overwhelm you or cause you to miss important notices.
LifeLock tin inform you of business relationship takeovers, improper loans and known sex offenders living nearby, too as of problems with investments, bank accounts and credit cards.
LifeLock volition fifty-fifty notify you nigh recent data breaches at your banking concern or credit-card issuer, whether your countersign has appeared on lists of stolen credentials sold online, and, as detailed already, whether someone is trying to steal your mobile telephone number.
Over my three-calendar month test period, I received nine alerts from LifeLock, including a phone notification for a new mortgage I was applying for. That alert sounded like a warning near my credit, but when I checked with the app, it had all the data I needed to see that it was legit.
LifeLock: Setup
Although the LifeLock installation procedure can feel disjointed considering it has carve up installation procedures for LifeLock and the Norton 360 security software, it is quick. It took me a niggling over xvi minutes to have everything set upwards.
I first went to the LifeLock site and chose the Ultimate Plus program, paying monthly. So I entered my electronic mail address and was given the pick to add together a spouse and children.
I paid for my subscription with a credit carte, although I could have used PayPal. The site so wanted my password, home accost and phone number, followed by my Social Security number and date of nascence.
After I agreed to the terms and atmospheric condition for the LifeLock subscription and so for the Norton 360 software, it took the site about 30 seconds to procedure the social club and congratulate me on my success.
I wasn't washed yet, considering I needed to load Norton 360 onto my calculator. This involved downloading, installing and activating the software. A more integrated installation would have helped.
At this signal, I was able to turn down to participate in Norton'southward Community Watch service. This manner the visitor won't copy items from my system to be used in warning of dangerous lawmaking.
LifeLock includes 24/7 support for its products and the Ultimate Plus programme adds priority intendance. While there'south a toll-free number and chat window, you tin can forget about emailing a question or problem to them.
My experience with LifeLock customer back up was mixed. I signed onto a chat window to correct a log-in problem. After xx confusing minutes during which the technician tried to get me to install the software that I already had installed, I was told to telephone call the support line. After going through the automatic attendant and waiting 6 minutes, the people on the phone cleared information technology upward in an boosted x minutes.
If yous'd rather try to fix things on your ain, the Norton site has lots of DIY items such as videos and troubleshooting aid.
LifeLock: Interface and utilities
Regardless of whether you use LifeLock'due south browser-based online interface or its mobile apps, you'll need utilise the my.norton.com entry portal. The online interface tries to squeeze too much data into also small a space. Be ready to zoom out to have it all in or to curl up and down a lot. Yous get to choose betwixt the traditional horizontal Norton layout or a vertical arroyo.
The LifeLock web portal dashboard shows Alerts & Notifications, Credit Score, Monitor Fiscal Transactions and the Privacy Monitor service. The Credit Score & Report section shows your most recent Equifax VantageScore 3.0 credit rating, as well as any recent inquiries fabricated for your credit files with all three bureaus.
My favorite feature is the Privacy Monitor, which ekes out data from 25 data brokers to meet if whatsoever of your personal data shows up. Information technology showed several instances of my information in the wrong places.
LifeLock Ultimate Plus and LifeLock Advantage include the ability to initiate a TransUnion credit lock straight from the spider web interface. Although information technology'southward non every bit comprehensive every bit a credit freeze, a credit lock puts your credit file off-limits to all comers, and TransUnion'due south lock is free.
To start a more than encompassing freeze, which is besides gratuitous and offers more legal protections than a credit lock, LifeLock has links to the 3 credit bureaus.
LifeLock's mobile apps take improved tremendously. They at present fill up the screen at full resolution and run horizontally for more flexibility. Rather than putting current credit scores in your face, the mobile dashboard in the LifeLock Identity app is a portal to all LifeLock offers, with links to everything from Device Security to ID Theft Protection to Credit Score & Report.
That LifeLock Identity app takes a stride towards consolidating the features of other Norton apps, like the VPN and online backup. There withal are separate LifeLock and Norton 360 apps available in both the Apple and Google Play app stores, should yous prefer to use those instead. The LifeLock stand-alone app doesn't seem to be equally updated as frequently as the other two.
LifeLock notwithstanding does not offer two-factor authentication (2FA) every bit an optional security protection for the online business relationship. This is a feature that IdentityForce has had for years.
Finally, equally thorough and deep as the Norton 360 with LifeLock packages are, none has a credit simulator or loan figurer to map out dissimilar future financial scenarios.
These unproblematic tools, mutual in other identity-theft-protection and credit-monitoring services, tin get a long manner to answering practical day-to-day financial and credit questions.
LifeLock: Cancellation
I was able to abolish my LifeLock subscription past going to the My Subscriptions page and clicking Cancel Membership Renewal. Alternatively, I could have called LifeLock's tech support line.
Subsequently providing a reason for ending the subscription, I twice had to confirm my intention to cease the service. I received an email confirming my counterfoil, which took effect at the terminate of the next billing wheel.
LifeLock review: Bottom line
LifeLock'southward identity-theft-protection service has been thoroughly overhauled, and nosotros're glad to encounter that the pricier plans now deliver full credit reports more than in one case a twelvemonth.
The inclusion of Norton 360 antivirus software adds a lot of value to LifeLock's rather expensive plans, and the combination of the two offers some of the most complete security and identity defenses yous can get today.
If you're looking for bodily FICO scores and credit simulators to tell yous which bills should be paid first and how probable you lot are to get a big loan, MyFICO may better fit the bill. If you crave frequent credit reports at a lower price, yet with robust identity-theft protections and with the peace of mind that two-factor hallmark brings to your business relationship, then IdentityForce does the trick.
Otherwise, the Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus programme is the well-nigh comprehensive way to protect your identity and your devices besides.
Updated to add together greater frequency of credit reports and scores and Telephone Takeover Monitoring. This review was originally posted in April 2021.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/lifelock
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