AllClear ID provides both direct-to-consumer identity theft protection services, as well as data breach services to businesses and organizations. AllClear prides itself on handling some of the biggest data breaches in history, and helping those affected by these breaches to secure their most important personal information.
The company’s focus on direct-to-consumer products has decreased since it began in 2004. Today, the main focus is on helping large corporations react and recover to data breaches in order to mitigate loss and retain customers. In this AllClear ID review, we take these points into consideration and explain their effects on available product offerings.
What’s Included in the AllClear ID Service?
Identity Repair
When you find out that your identity has been stolen, AllClear’s Identity Repair service:
- Helps you recover money from fraudulent charges
- Assists you with restoring your credit report with the major credit bureaus
- Assigns a dedicated investigator who looks for other fraud you might not have noticed
- Contacts banks, creditors, credit bureaus, and other organizations in order to clear your name
- Keeps you updated on progress being made to restore your identity
You can choose the Identity Repair service as a standalone product (when you need it, no enrollment required), or get it as part of AllClear’s Monitoring Services.
Monitoring Services
AllClear ID’s monitoring services are intended to stop identity theft in its tracks, and assist you with the fallout. Identity Theft Monitoring works through a partnership with the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA). Through the use of databases and other technologies, whenever it appears that someone is using your personal data fraudulently, you’ll receive an alert on your phone. If you feel that there is an identity theft in progress, you simply press a button on your phone to be immediately connected with an AllClear ID investigator.
AllClear’s monitoring services also include:
Lost Wallet Protection – AllClear will help you cancel and replace credit or debit cards if your wallet is lost or stolen.
Identity Theft Insurance Coverage – AllClear will reimburse you for fees, lost wages, and other financial losses due to identity theft. The coverage is up to $1 million, and has no deductible.
ChildScan Monitoring – Children under 18 are just as susceptible to identity theft as adults, although most parents only become aware of this when it is already too late. AllClear ID will monitor the Social Security number of your child (or children) and alert you of any unauthorized use.
The Good
Proven track record – AllClear ID has been hired by world-renowned brands and government organizations. Customer feedback for 2015 showed that 94% of customers were satisfied with services received from AllClear. The company has also received 24 awards for outstanding customer service.
Straightforward alerts – Probably the most intriguing feature that AllClear ID offers is its patented technology that “eliminates repetitive and non-urgent email alerts”. By weeding out alerts for common, authorized uses of your personal information, you’ll pay closer attention when you receive alerts that could indicate fraud. This is smart technology that everyone can appreciate.
Enroll anytime – If you’ve been a victim of a large data breach and are offered coverage from the company, you can choose to enroll in an AllClear service at any time. So, if a big box store tells you that your credit card has been compromised and they’re offering you two years of complimentary AllClear ID services, you can choose to enroll at any time during those two years.
Business products – The B2B services that AllClear ID offers include designing and testing a data breach response plan that is tailored to your business needs; a guaranteed response team dedicated to your customers; and identity theft protection for your customers. There are three business packages available (Gold, Silver, and Bronze).
The Bad
Not as feature-rich as other ID theft protection services. Unlike other top services, AllClear doesn’t provide you with copies of your credit report or credit score, and it only provides alerts for certain types of fraud or potential fraud. To really compete with other protection services on the market, AllClear should be providing more features.
Direct-to-consumer plans are confusing – It seems like AllClear ID focuses on providing its id theft protection services to customers who have been referred by a partner company, and have a promotional code to redeem. Perhaps it is for this reason that they don’t provide specific information about packages. We tried to find an explanation of package and pricing options, but kept being steered to the same sign-up page that did not provide such details.
Direct-to-consumer plans are being phased out – To confuse matters more, the Frequently Asked Questions page on the AllClear website says that consumers can no longer purchase services; that services are only available if a company is paying for them on your behalf. This statement appears to be untrue, as there is a sign-up page that allows you to purchase without a company-provided redemption code, but it seems like this could change at any moment.
Enrollment is required for monitoring services – As mentioned above, when a company provides you with the paid option to enroll in AllClear services, you can enroll anytime. If you haven’t enrolled yet and you become a victim of identity theft, you won’t be covered by most of the services offered by AllClear.
No mobile experience – The current AllClear ID website does not promote the use of a mobile app; just alerts sent to your phone. A 2012 blog post on the site does announce the launch of an iPhone app, but a search for the app online and in the iTunes store was unsuccessful.
Monitoring not available in Canada
The AllClear ID website states that the company cannot provide credit monitoring services “as a direct product to consumers” in Canada. To purchase this service, you must have a United States-issued Social Security number and a current address in the U.S.
AllClear ID Pricing and Packages
If you have a promotional code for identity theft services from a company that is providing complimentary services from AllClear ID, your package options and pricing will vary.
For anyone attempting to sign up without a promo code, you can get a 30-day free trial of the monitoring services. Unfortunately, the sign up page on the AllClear website (which requires you to enter your Social Security number right up front), doesn’t tell you exactly what monitoring services you get in the free trial. To receive the free trial, you must provide a valid credit card number.
Upon signing up for the 30-day free trial, you get the choice of two plans: Basic or Pro. As mentioned above, we couldn’t find details about what services are included in either plan. Even more confusingly, when you select the Basic plan on the website, the cost is shown as $0.00 per year.
The Pro plan does come with a price of $14.95 per year, which is charged after your 30-day free trial has been completed. We assume that the Pro plan provides the full suite of the Identity Theft Monitoring Services (including the Identity Repair service), but we suggest calling a customer service representative to find out for sure.
Is AllClear ID Worth It?
There is no doubt that AllClear ID is one of the top identity theft protection services available to large corporations and organizations. The company is trusted by huge brands that have a lot to lose if they don’t have top-notch services. If you work for a large company, we recommend that you take a closer look at the business-to-business services available from AllClear.
Is AllClear ID the best id protection service for a regular consumer? Probably not. The company seems to be going through a business model shift, and that shift is pushing regular consumers out. The website gives mixed messages about who can purchase services, and there is only one default plan to choose from. The price for that plan ($14.95) is pretty high when compared to plans with more features from other companies.
The final verdict: We would want AllClear ID on our side if we were a company facing the fallout from a data breach, but we’d buy a personal monthly protection plan from a different identity theft protection company.
