AARP ID Theft Protection Review

AARP ID Theft Protection is powered by their partner company, TrustedID, which is a part of the Equifax Personal Solutions suite. AARP uses the services of TrustedID to give retired people a means to fight against identity theft at all hours of the day through credit monitoring and internet reputation services. Their mission is to continuously check both legitimate sites to see if your information is being used for criminal purposes as well as illegitimate sites which may be selling your information for profit to other criminals. They also monitor and give advice for better social media practices, so there’s less likelihood to be targeted through conglomerate sites like Facebook.

What We Like

Social media monitoring and the ability to add both children and grandchildren to a plan are both features that we like. AARP’s services also monitor how medical benefits are being used, so there’s less chance of internal or external hospital or health insurance fraud. Older people are typically seen as easy targets by thieves, so just by sheer odds alone they really do need to have some type of protection. If you are already a member of AARP then it may make more sense to sign up through them because you already know how they communicate and brand their information. It’s a flat fee for either individual or family plans, so you don’t have to worry about whether or not it’s worth it to add on extra services. Their protection is run by one of the major credit bureaus, so it should (in theory) have faster alerts and resolution and more control over problems that may occur with fraud and irregularity. The package includes monitoring of the known and unknown threats on the internet, and it gives you the option to try it for free for 2 weeks. The Dark Web, where criminal information is traded all around the world, continues to be alive and well and US authorities can do very little to control it. Having a partner and a company that understands and can effective fight against that danger is necessary for all those who want comprehensive coverage.

What We Don’t Like

There are always hesitations for us to suggest working through a middle man. The information seems fairly inconclusive about how well this service actually works, and the service provider itself does not seem to offer the best customer service according to reviews. This could mean you face resistance when trying to process even simple requests. In addition, it does not offer credit freezes which will automatically put a hold on the account if there’s a problem, nor do they offer monitoring of public loans taken out in your name. There’s also a couple of claims about TrustedID on the AARP that don’t seem to be easy to verify — namely the awards and recognition the company has received. Their information on them is somewhat generic otherwise. This is also not an accredited business with the BBB, though it does currently have an A+ rating.

The Bottom Line

AARP does offer a wealth of services, and they stand on their reputation with the community. It seems counter-productive for the institution to offer a service that doesn’t protect against identity fraud or that causes a member more aggravation during what is already a traumatic time. If you do already love AARP for its amenities and values and already have a trusted contact with them, then taking advantage of this plan may be a good way to consolidate and simplify your safety defenses against hackers. However, it should be noted that anytime a company contracts with another company, you’re personally affected by any flaws or mismanagement issues they may with each other.