SafeHome.org may receive compensation from some providers listed on this page. Learn More
We may receive compensation from some providers listed on this page. Learn More
Basic identity protection with an emphasis on recovery
We’ve used dozens of different identity protection services over the years — and for the most part, they’re fairly similar. With any given brand, we expect to see credit and identity monitoring features, help with recovery from identity crimes, and insurance coverage. Zander Insurance fits the mold, but only to a point. Instead of offering rock-solid monitoring, their plans focus mainly on recovery and insurance to get you back on track after identity theft occurs.
We do get some identity monitoring with Zander, but their plans don’t include credit monitoring. That said, Zander offers insurance coverage and other key features on-the-cheap. Note that these plans are certainly more affordable than most of the competition we’ve tried.
When we reviewed Zander Insurance, we weren’t sure about the trade-off. We usually recommend services that offer credit monitoring. But then again, you can check your credit yourself for free. Identity protection services like LifeLock are more comprehensive, but again, Zander Insurance is a safe bet for low-cost coverage. We’re going to share the value we find with Zaner’s plans, packages, and pricing. Let’s see if they have an option that makes sense for your budget.
Did You Know? You can get a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year.1 So you could check in once every four months.
Here’s what you get with a Zander Insurance policy
Check out more recommendations from the SafeHome team:
How much you’ll pay for Zander depends on two factors. First, you have to choose between an individual plan and a family plan. Next, you’ll have to decide if you want to be billed monthly or annually.
However you decide to pay, you’ll get pretty much the same services from Zander. The only real difference between plans is whether they cover your whole family or only you as an individual. Don’t worry, we’ll unpack what this means in a moment.
You’ll pay less for Zander Insurance if you go with an annual plan. However, we think the monthly option is more flexible. When you cancel a service like Zander, your service technically stops at the end of your “pay period.” You won’t pay anything after you cancel, but you typically won’t get a pro-rated refund. That said, if you’re sure you’ll stick with Zander for the year, the annual plan is a deal starting at only $75 per year.
Individual Plan | Family Plan | |
---|---|---|
Monthly Plan | $6.75 per month | $12.90 per month |
Annual Plan | $75.00 per year | $145.00 per year |
Now we’re going to go over the different Zander plan variations. Keep in mind that it’s the same plan whether you pay by the month or by the year. But there are slight differences between the individual and family options. As you might expect, the family plan covers additional people in your household. The family plan also includes child monitoring services for any little ones in your home.
FYI: Protecting your family is a smart move. It may be rare, but child identity theft is a very real thing. A compromised identity could threaten your child’s future. In fact, child identity theft can escape detection for years and might only be found decades later when they apply for a credit card or a loan!
We enjoyed all of Zander’s main features with the individual plan. Even as a basic service, Zander monitored our identity and alerted us to any problems. There is no credit monitoring, though. As we explained in our review, we think Zander makes sense for its recovery features, not so much for credit monitoring.
Zander gave us fully managed recovery services and identity theft insurance of up to $1 million in coverage. That’s a good amount of money, but note that it’s the industry standard nowadays. Most identity theft incidents don’t cost anything, as banks and credit cards catch them early.2 However, certain types of fraud can cost a whole lot. So we think it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Who it’s best for: Budget-conscious buyers who want a safety net and don’t mind going without credit monitoring.
The Zander family plan offered us all the features of the individual plan, but it came with coverage for our whole family. These family plans cover two adults and up to ten kids, which is the most generous family plan we’ve seen in the industry. We typically recommend signing up with a family plan, as everyone in the house can rest a little easier, including the kids (well, they’ll thank you later). As mentioned, child identity theft is rare, but it can be a big problem if it happens.3
FYI: Some top brands, like Complete ID, offer child monitoring as an add-on feature separate from coverage for spouses. We appreciate that Zander includes their child-monitoring feature in the family plan.
Who it’s best for: Families looking for affordable identity theft coverage with an emphasis on recovery rather than credit monitoring.
You can get identity theft coverage for less with Zander. Plans start out extremely affordable, and they get even cheaper when you pay annually. Just remember that the annual plan requires you to pay for a year up front. Also, keep an eye out for rolling deals and discounts on Zander throughout the year. For instance, many identity theft monitoring brands offer savings during the holidays (think Cyber Monday!).
Individual Plan | Family Plan |
---|---|
$6.75/mo | $12.90/mo |
View Packages | View Packages |
Services | Services |
Coverage For All Forms of Identity Theft | Coverage For All Forms of Identity Theft |
Online Monitoring of Personal Information | Online Monitoring of Personal Information |
Data Breach Updates | Data Breach Updates |
24/7/365 Customer Service and Recovery Services | 24/7/365 Customer Service and Recovery Services |
Lost Wallet Protection | Lost Wallet Protection |
Unlimited Dependents Coverage | |
From what we’ve seen, Zander is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) option on the market today. But you might still be wondering about the value you get for your money. Well, we were a little disappointed that Zander doesn’t offer credit monitoring. On one hand, credit monitoring is a basic feature that we see with most identity theft protection services. On the other hand, Zander does offer other helpful features (like recovery and insurance!) at rock-bottom prices. So really, it’s a trade-off.
As a budget option, we think that Zander offers pretty strong value. But that doesn’t mean we recommend skipping credit monitoring altogether. If you are looking for an affordable way to get credit monitoring along with Zander’s features, we suggest looking at plans from Identity Guard and IdentityForce. These are two of our perennial-favorite brands with comprehensive coverage.
Note that some services leave out credit monitoring in their lowest-priced tiers, just like Zander does for all of its plans. That’s something we pointed out in our Identity Guard review. Other services include some credit monitoring in relatively cheap plans. We’ve used countless ID theft protection services, and IDnotify is one brand that offers the full suite of coverage with credit monitoring at affordable monthly prices.
If you’ve heard of Zander Insurance before, it’s likely because you heard none other than Dave Ramsey talking it up. Dave Ramsey is an extremely popular personal finance expert with his own radio show and a whole library of books to his name. He endorses Zander Insurance, and his face is all over their website.
Pro Tip: Most identity monitoring services have the same goals, but they are not all created equal. Check out our reviews, rankings, and comparisons for identity protection services to find the best deal on ID theft coverage that makes sense for you. We break it all down in simple English.
Zander Insurance is about more than just identity theft, though. It’s a huge insurance agency. You can get life insurance, car insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and all sorts of other policies from Zander Insurance. Dave Ramsey endorses the whole company, not just their identity theft offerings.
No, Zander doesn’t monitor credit reports. The company claims that if something suspicious shows up on your credit report, the damage has already been done. We don’t agree with this 100%.
Zander Costs $6.75 per month for individual plans, and $12.90 per month for families.
Zander scans the web for personal information, address changes, and social security number breaches.
No, Zander’s family plan includes kids for free.
Yes, there is a mobile app, but it’s pretty limited in its functionality.
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information. (Retrieved June 4, 2020). Free Credit Reports.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports
Money. Timestaff. (2014, May 26). Do I Need Identity Theft Insurance?
https://money.com/collection-post/identity-theft-insurance/
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information. (Retrieved May 13, 2020). Child Identity Theft.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0040-child-identity-theft
Zander Insurance. (Retrieved June 5, 2020). Identity Theft Solutions.
https://www.zanderins.com/identity-theft-protection/personal-information-monitoring