Does Your Bank Offer Identity Theft Protection? These 5 Do -- and Some Plans Are Free (2024)

Identity theft is a major problem -- and it’s only gotten worse since the onset of the pandemic as criminals find new and creative ways to extract your personal information online. The good news is identity theft protection goes a long way in keeping identity thieves at bay, and you may qualify for free or low-cost coverage through your bank.

Most basic ID theft protection services cost around $10 to $15 per month from industry leaders like Aura or LifeLock. If you can’t foot that bill, it could be worth seeing if your bank offers ID theft protection for free or at a discounted price.

You won’t get nearly the same coverage and features as you would with a traditional identity theft company, but you could get free dark web, Social Security number and credit monitoring. Some even offer identity theft insurance.

Here’s a crash course on what’s available now, exclusively to banking customers.

Which banks offer identity theft protection?

Most of the banks that offer identity theft protection are big banks with physical branch access. Many of these banks charge monthly fees to maintain an account, so while you might get identity theft services, they’re not really free.

Here are some of the more prominent banks offering identity theft protection to customers.

Fifth Third Bank

Fifth Third Bank offers its customers two identity theft plans: Fifth Third Identity Alert and Fifth Third Identity Alert Premium for $11 or $16 a month, respectively. But discounts are available if you have specific Fifth Third Bank deposit accounts.

With Fifth Third Identity Alert, customers receive daily credit monitoring for one bureau and monthly monitoring for all three (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). The plan also includes dark web and Social Security number monitoring and identity theft insurance up to $25,000.

Fifth Third Identity Alert Premium increases the potential payout in identity theft insurance to $1 million and tacks on daily credit monitoring for all three major bureaus. In addition, Social Security number monitoring is extended to up to 10 children.

Provident Credit Union

Provident Credit Union’s identity theft protection service offers monthly credit score updates, home title and change of address monitoring, and up to $1 million in insurance that covers out of pocket expenses if your identity is stolen.

Other standout features include dark web monitoring, full-service identity restoration services and personal information monitoring. The latter involves the scanning of websites, blogs and other corners of the internet for your personal data.

Plans for individuals are $7 per month or $78 per year. Family plans, which also include child identity monitoring, cost $12 per month and $139 if billed annually.

Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank offers Commerce ID Recover for $5.49 a month and Commerce ID Monitor for $12.99 a month to bank customers.

Commerce ID Recover features a password manager, an online identity vault (you can encrypt and store sensitive information and documents online), emailed breach and fraud news alerts and an identity management mobile app.

You get all of this and more with Commerce ID Monitor. As the name implies, this plan will monitor the dark web for your personal information and also includes daily credit monitoring for one bureau. Additionally, under this plan, you can choose to protect one other member of your household.

Both Commerce ID Recover and ID Monitor offer $25,000 in ID theft reimbursem*nt insurance, identity restoration services and 24/7 customer support.

Capital One

Capital One‘s identity theft service is rolled into CreditWise, a free credit score notification service that also scans the dark web for your personal identifiable information. The goal? To find out whether your personal information is compromised and available to identity thieves on the creepiest parts of the internet.

If your personal information is found on the dark web, CreditWise will alert you so you can take the proper precautions, like changing a password, freezing your credit report or contacting your credit card company. CreditWise also monitors your TransUnion credit report for any signs of identity theft.

Chase

In the Chase Mobile app, Chase offers customers a feature called Chase Credit Journey. It’s a free tool, primarily designed to help you get your credit score back on track.

However, the credit monitoring service also gives you an Experian credit report and a personal dashboard to help you keep track of your credit usage, limits and balances. If you’re subscribed to Chase Credit Journey and an identity thief opens a new credit account in your name, you’ll be notified by Chase and can take action.

Alternatively, you can also check your credit reports from all three credit bureaus, including Equifax and TransUnion, yourself. Just keep in mind that credit reports help to identify identity theft only after it happens.

All banks offer fraud protection

Even if your bank doesn’t formally offer identity theft protection, all banks will monitor customer accounts for signs of fraud. They also offer a zero-dollar liability guarantee. So if someone uses your credit card to make an unauthorized purchase and you report it, you won’t be held responsible.

Of course, you may be looking to protect yourself further rather than just relying on your bank’s fraud detection software. Start with asking your bank if they offer any identity theft protection services.

If you’re not satisfied with the offerings, consider signing up for identity theft protection. We recommend Aura, our best overall identity theft protection service pick. Identity Guard and Identity Force are also good choices for family plans.

ID theft protection through your bank has drawbacks

While banks can offer serviceable ID theft protection depending on your needs, there are some services that they don’t have that will require you to sign up for a traditional service instead:

• VPN services: Virtual privacy networks are offered by nearly all identity theft protection services, but are rarely included in bank offerings.
• Password manager: Similar to VPNs, a password manager is a key component of a premium identity theft protection service that isn’t always included in bank offerings. Password managers create unique passwords for users and store them so you won’t have to remember them.
• Antivirus software: Antivirus software keeps computer viruses and malware at bay, so that cybercriminals can’t hack your computer and steal your personal info.
• Credit Lock: Credit locks work just like credit freezes, but they happen instantly. This service is offered by independent credit bureaus and can be included for free with a traditional identity theft protection subscription.
• Court monitoring: Many of the ID theft protection services will scan public court records to see if any crimes have been committed in your name.
• Social media monitoring: Companies like Lifelock and IdentityForce will monitor your social media accounts for any suspicious activity.

Data breaches happen more often than we think, even at banks, and can grant cybercriminals access to our most sensitive financial and personal information. So there’s a strong case for paying for an identity theft protection service for peace of mind.

But not everybody has the money to shell out to an ID theft protection company. If you’re worried about identity theft and don’t think you can afford a service, there are still a lot of free steps you can take, including:

• Monitoring your bank accounts: Regularly review your checking, savings and credit card accounts to make sure there aren’t any weird charges that have gone through.
• Set up alerts: On your bank or credit card app, you should also set up alerts for whenever changes are made to your account or when something is bought using your card.
• Review medical claim history: You don’t want to discover that somebody used your health insurance for their own medical needs.
• Look at your credit report. You’ll want to periodically look at your credit report from all three major credit bureaus to make sure no suspicious accounts have been opened in your name.
• Exercise good password hygiene: Use a password manager or create unique passwords for each of your financial accounts.