Discover has about 57 million cardholders all over the world, and they offer identity monitoring services for free to their customers. The company is well established, and has won awards for their customer satisfaction and advances in technology. Their identity theft protection includes monitoring, education resources and fraud specialists to help get your credit back on track.
First of all, free is always nice, so there’s really no disadvantage for cardholders to use their services. With it, you get daily credit report monitoring which can give you fast alerts if there is illegal activity happening on your account. In addition to this, you’ll get alerts should a criminal try to open an account in your name or run your credit report without your permission.
It provides up to $25,000 in reimbursement insurance (underwritten by AIG) and gives you access to dedicated fraud specialists 24/7. Plus, Discover has a direct lines to your credit information, considering they’re the ones who are processing your information. Their algorithms are really good at catching purchases that are out of character for you.
They also take care of the paperwork for you, which is a huge help to anyone who finds themselves with precious little free time throughout the week. The company has resources, and there should be a clear chain of command and action when there’s a problem.
There are no options to upgrade your plan, and their coverage is not enough if you’re hoping to fight against identity theft. Credit monitoring can be a great way to stop fraud, but between social security, insurance and medical fraud, it’s possible to rack up a lot of debt that has nothing to do with credit.
Discover only offers $25,000 worth of protection, which will likely not go very far in an identity theft case. Plus, even though they have an A+ rating with the BBB and have been given several awards for how they treat their customers, they’ve had a significant number of complaints in the past. This may be merely a function of working with so many cardholders, but it’s still worth noting if trying to decide between companies.
If you don’t want to pay for identity theft services and you already have a Discover Card, this service is definitely better than nothing — especially if you’re not planning to pay for additional services. The fact that it offers thousands of dollars of reimbursement protection (again, for free) will provide some help to those who suffer from a breach. If you already trust and enjoy doing business with Discover, this is the cherry on top. However, you may want to supplement that assistance and monitoring with another company’s services that are more proactive regarding the rest of your information. And definitely don’t let it lure you into a false sense of security when it comes to this complex and increasingly more popular form of theft.
There is only plan available, and it is only for those who have Discover cards. It should be noted that Discover does not state they monitor credit based on all three bureaus on their basic website, but independent research seems to suggest they do. Considering they’re a credit card company and need to report activity to the bureaus, it makes sense.
Daily Monitoring: Whether you use your card that day or not, their systems will be monitoring your credit to ensure it’s only affected by what you do and not a thief.
Fraud Alerts: If an account is opened in your name or someone makes an inquiry into your score or information, you’ll get immediate notification. They’ll also stop put holds on accounts to prevent further use.
24/7 Fraud Specialists: Discover has staff skilled in recovering identity to help get your credit and reputation back to where it was before the breach. They’ll alert creditors about the fraud, and provide a file of information, updates and news that can be used by law enforcement to prosecute (or at least provide proof of the fraud both now and in the future.) They’ll handle the paperwork as well.
Online Portals: Customers can find general information on identity on the online help center, and find paperwork and information when you need to apply for a loan as well.
There is only plan offered by Discover ID for those who already have the cards.
Discover does not appear to have a specific identity support address for their identity protection, so the P.O. Box below is for general inquiries.
1-800-347-3089
Discover Financial Services
P.O. Box 30943
Salt Lake City, UT 84130