This is a sponsored guest post.
The answer is both yes and no. ID Shield can protect from some aspects of identity theft but is not an all- encompassing type of service. The ID Shield Review that OneRep provides should assist in making a choice on how much to protect your identity and which services will work the best in each individuals’ lives. Sometimes a combination of services is the only way to protect against identity theft entirely. Credit card services now also provide alerts on suspicious activity as do many banks.
First, a little history. ID Shield is a service that has evolved from a stand-alone service to partnership.
Almost two decades ago, a company that furnished only legal insurance protection, called Pre-Paid Legal arrived on the horizon. For a set fee each month, subscribers could join and receive legal letters, and legal representation when needed without paying enormous attorney fees. There was a network of attorneys set up throughout the United States. Wills were also furnished by filling out a form which made it unnecessary to visit an attorney. This made it possible for individuals to fight even smaller legal battles such as traffic tickets, neighborhood disputes, collection agencies, etc., without running up massive legal bills. Before Pre-Paid Legal made its appearance, most individuals just paid fines, and costs no matter what the issue, since they could not afford to hire an attorney for smaller issues. This did make Pre-Paid Legal popular rather quickly and it is still available. Today, however, the service goes under the name Legal Shield and has expanded its offerings into Identity Theft Protection, incorporating an alliance with ID Shield.
The incorporation of ID Shield into Legal Shield was part of a branding initiative.
Pre-Paid Legal was a network of independent distributors, operating on a multi-level marketing platform. The incorporation of ID Shield and renaming the entire company Legal Shield, effectively removed the multi-level marketing branding aspect, which was hurting Pre-Paid legal, and brought Identity Theft Protection services to the company. The branding initiative not only assisted Pre-Paid Legal but brought a larger established customer base into Legal Shield. Legal Shield brought ID Shield into the mix alone at first to service individuals seeking only identity theft protection, once there was a significant rise in identity theft. The services that Pre-Paid Legal offered still exist, with an unlimited amount of attorney phone calls, a set number of letters and a 24/7 hotline for emergency situations such as detainment. Not all services are free, but a 25% discount does apply to those that are not.
Although ID Shield is listed as a separate corporation itself, it is part and parcel of Legal Shield.
And as stated above, Legal Shield is actually now part and parcel of Pre-Paid Legal and was founded by the same individual, who was experiencing legal problems himself when he founded Pre-Paid Legal. The joint companies provide both legal protection services and identity theft for a monthly fee. However, the services must be purchased separately. Just as the need for legal services was noticed by the founder of the company, the need for identity theft protection was noticed as well.
According to chat line reps at ID Shield, the legal services are separate from the identity theft service.
Different plans exist with differing amounts of coverage for both. Although ID Shield is still listed as its own entity, its incorporation with Legal Shield gives it more power to address legal issues by referring to Pre-Paid legal and address legal identity theft issues simultaneously. Identity theft issues many times go hand in hand with legal issues, as clearing up identity theft issues does usually also require the use of legal services for expungement of all misinformation that exists, and all breach of data, as well as the recovery of financial losses for the victims of identity theft.
Identity theft continues to increase and better options other than ID Shield and Legal Shield now exist.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, (FTC), because of Covid-19 and individuals now working from home identity theft has increased by a whopping 23% in 2020. This has occurred mostly because of online social media accounts, and the ability of online hackers to access data that is now available through online work from home platforms and databases. Newer offerings that include more extensive expungement of personal information from social media platforms and work at home platforms are now more in demand. OneRep.com, is one company now that provides such an extensive scan that can target database privacy listings more effectively and eliminate the stored data more quickly. A visit to OneRep.com allows a consumer to search for their listings online for free and will reveal all types of issues such as misinformation or negative information that can hurt individuals both privately, financially, and many times professionally.
So here is a bit or a rundown on the pros and cons of ID Shield/Legal Shield.
PROS:
- It can possibly alert you when your identity is compromised, as it does promise alerts.
- It can possibly reimburse for a set monetary amount if a high-priced plan is purchased.
- It has a chat line for immediate assistance, with certain aspects such as a purchase of identity protection.
- The plans are affordable, especially the basic plans.
- There is a free trial period.
CONS:
- The plans seem very confusing as does the entire infrastructure of the company. The company info seems to switch from inclusion of legal services to non-inclusion, as there is a separate number yet for customers of Pre-Paid Legal, the parent company.
- The chat line representatives are not knowledgeable and a phone call to one that was placed showed a lack of knowledge on the plans and services, or even the history of the company. The rep simply supplies other links where a consumer can dig around and try to figure things out for themselves.
- The information on the company during research is just as confusing, as ID Shield is listed as a separate entity yet, on established sites, but the company representatives do state that it was always Legal Shield. There is a link for both ID Shield and Legal Shield provided by chat line reps as well as an 800 number for Pre-Paid Legal, which then adds to the confusion.
- There is no list of databases or sites they check for name-brokering.
Overall ID Shield/Legal Shield probably has some ability to protect from identity theft as the technology probably exists to check on possible fraudulent activity and promises alerts. However, there seem to be simpler solutions out there now, such as OneRep.com., which has the same abilities yet offers an immediate scan when a name and address is input. Instant removal of incorrect info and verification of records removed would seem to be more important to consumers now. Simplicity in the process also would factor into selecting a provider for identity theft protection as would timeliness as much can occur in a short amount of time when dealing with an identity theft issue.
