Discover Identity Theft Protection Review and Pricing Plans

See what Discover identity theft protection options exist and find out what to do if you think your Discover account may have been compromised.

SecureScore™: 8.4 / 10 This rating is derived from our editorial team's research, hands-on product testing, and customer surveys.
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Even if your digital hygiene is impeccable, what happens if your doctor’s work password is “password”?

Probably a data breach.

Due to no fault of your own, now your personal information could be anywhere. On the dark web. In some scammer’s hands. Even being actively used to commit crimes.

There were almost 2,000 data breaches last year alone, impacting an estimated 422.14 million Americans. That’s a lot of potential victims. If you don’t want to be one of them, you need to start taking your identity protection seriously.

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What Is Discover Identity Theft Protection?

This is why Discover has rolled out a new service for their cardholders. For just $15 a month, you can get identity theft protection that rivals some of the big names in the industry, and far more than what other credit card companies offer. Which is, most of the time, bupkis.

So what exactly do you get?

Considerations for Discover Identity Theft Protection

The Discover identity theft protection service will provide you with up to $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance, reimbursement of stolen funds/lost wages, and more. However, many of the features they are offering with this service are already provided for free to all cardholders.

While the free service doesn’t provide the $1,000,000 identity theft insurance or other major features, it does monitor your social security number on the dark web and new account alerts for mortgage/auto/credit cards, etc. Additionally, their premium service only monitors one credit bureau — Experian. That leaves the other two bureaus unmonitored. And for the price they are charging for this service, you could get complete identity theft coverage for the same or just slightly more per month from a dedicated identity theft protection service.

What to Do When You Notice Identity Theft in Your Discover Account?

Discover recommends that if you find a transaction you don’t recognize to check with any secondary card members or authorized users to see if it was theirs. If the unidentified charges were not authorized, Discover asks you to call them immediately at 1-866-240-7938. Alternatively, you can contact their Customer Service department online, or initiate a dispute. Fortunately, Discover does have a $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee, so you are never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your Discover card.

Alternatives to Discover Identity Theft Protection

Here are the top three alternatives to Discover identity theft protection.

Identity Guard®

Identity Guard is rated #1 in their field for a reason, one of which is their new product with IBM® Watson™ advanced artificial intelligence. This AI product watches and analyzes billions of online websites looking for your personal information and whether it could potentially put you at risk for fraud or identity theft. If anything suspicious is found, they will immediately send you an alert so you can respond accordingly.

Identity Guard has three extremely reasonably priced identity theft protection plans that range from $75 per month down to $25.00 per month if you pay annually. They also offer a great family plan if you want to protect your loved ones. It’s something worth considering — children are a primary target of identity thieves. If you want to learn more, consider reading these five child identity theft stats every parent should know.

Even Identity Guard’s most basic service comes with $1 million in insurance coverage with stolen funds reimbursement included. They also provide you with a U.S.-based dedicated case manager and a variety of alerts such as when your information is found on the dark web, high-risk transactions, any potential personal threats that are detected by IBM® Watson™ artificial intelligence, and more.

And that’s just for the basic plan. The upper two tiers offer more coverage, obviously, and for just a few dollars more per month. So if you can afford it, go for the upper-tier plan. If you can’t, you still receive more coverage for significantly less than what you would pay for the Discover identity theft service.

LifeLock

You probably recognize LifeLock from all their TV commercials and emails. They’ve been around for a long time and offer some fantastic identity theft protection services. LifeLock and Norton are now one. So when you sign up for the LifeLock service, you also get the Norton internet security protection as well.

LifeLock has over a dozen service packages from which you can choose ranging from the most basic — LifeLock Standard — for $11.99 per month up to the most advanced — Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus for Family with Kids — for $81.99 per month.

LifeLock offers a full suite of identity theft protection services. So even with their basic plan, you still get more than you do with the Discovery identity theft protection service. And don’t forget, when you sign up for LifeLock, you automatically get the Norton internet security protection service as well at no additional cost. LifeLock also comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee (with an annual membership) so you can try it before you commit to it. Additionally, LifeLock is continually adding new features to their services, so if you haven’t looked at LifeLock in a while, you might be pleasantly surprised with what all you get for your money.

IdentityForce

IdentityForce is another one of the great alternatives to Discover identity theft protection. In fact, IdentityForce and EZShield have recently combined forces and have a new company name—Sontiq. Both brands have a proven track record with more than 40 years in the identity theft protection field. They offer identity, privacy, and credit security solutions using the most advanced detection technology available. They also provide real-time alerts, identity recovery services, and are backed by a million-dollar insurance policy. IdentityForce is used by millions of people, Global 1000 organizations, and even the U.S. Government!

IdentityForce has two individual plans that range from $17.95 per month to $23.95 per month with a reduced rate if you pay annually. They also have a ChildWatch plan you can add to any adult plan as well. Additionally, their website states they now have family plan options available, but you have to call and speak with one of their live agents to get that information as it’s not posted on their website, which is a bit inconvenient when trying to make a preliminary decision about which identity theft services to consider.

Another thing we want to mention is that the IdentityForce website is a bit deceiving because when you click on any given plan, the price for that plan shows as $0.00. It’s obviously not free, this is just IdentityForce’s 14-day trial period that is free. It’s also their way of getting you to click on their Sign Me Up button to try to get you to continue with their services.

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Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the companies referenced in this article. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the companies mentioned. We may be compensated through advertiser affiliate programs.

Written By
Max Sheridan
Identity Theft Protection Expert

Max Sheridan brings over two decades of writing experience to our team. He has spent 1,000-plus hours researching VPNs, identity theft protection, and various topics in cyber technology. Previously, Max was an investigative journalist, and he is also a published novelist. He earned a B.A. in Classics from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Classics from the University of Illinois. He currently lives in Nicosia, Cyprus.