Experian Identity Theft Protection Review

Experian, along with TransUnion and Equifax, has been keeping track of people’s credit since 1996. Since the company experienced a massive data breach when it was hacked in 2015,¹ it has worked hard to not only monitor people’s credit but also to become a leader in identity theft protection.

Learn more about this and our other top five identity theft protection services.

Experian’s identity theft protection services are offered through an annual or monthly subscription to its IdentityWorks plans. There are two different plans: IdentityWorks Plus and IdentityWorks Premium. The two plans are very similar and offer standard identity theft protection options (credit reports, Social Security number monitoring, identity theft insurance) and include a few bonus features like direct access to your FICO scores.

The fact that these plans are offered directly through Experian means you can lock and unlock your credit easily. You also get more direct access to your credit scores than you would through other companies. That means you’ll have a much easier time resolving issues related to your credit report. But even with these benefits, one call won’t solve all your problems if your identity gets stolen. You’ll still need to call your bank and follow all the other recommended steps.

The IdentityWorks Premium plan will keep an eye on all sorts of places where you wouldn’t want your name showing up. It will monitor payday loans, court records, sex offender registries, social networks, and file-sharing networks to name a few.

There’s not much of a difference between the two plans—when looking at both side by side, the Plus plan seems like a watered-down version of the Premium plan. You can choose a plan for a single adult, a single parent and children, or two parents and children. You just pay $5 more a month each time you add an adult.  A customizable plan based on how much coverage you want would be ideal, but that isn’t an option with Experian (or most other identity theft protection services).

We recommend the IdentityWorks Premium plan. It covers all your bases when it comes to identity theft issues and has a solid selection of added features.  The IdentityWorks Plus plan is a good basic plan, but the best thing Experian offers over other identity theft protection services is FICO scores and quarterly reports from the other credit bureaus—and those benefits come only with the Premium plan.

The Experian plans are accessible from a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Most of the information and alerts will come to you through emails, but you can access them on any device, making this service easy to use.

For most of us, our credit scores are something we don’t know or even understand all that well. We hear about it when applying for a loan and that’s about it. You can get your credit report for free once a year, but these reports don’t show your credit score. With Experian’s identity theft protection services, you get to see your actual FICO credit score daily, and you get to see your credit scores from all three credit bureaus quarterly. If you’re working on repairing your credit for any reason (not just identity theft), this could be extremely helpful to you.

Either of the plans offered by Experian give you solid credit monitoring options, but only the Premium plan offers credit card and bank account takeover alerts and monitoring. Fraud alerts like these can save you thousands and thousands of dollars.

You get your first thirty days free when you sign up with Experian, but that does require your credit card information, and you will be billed after that. Some customers reported difficulties canceling the service, both during the trial period and after they began paying.

Many, many online reviewers noted that Experian was difficult to work with when it came to customer support issues. You could easily freeze your credit report, but other than that, many of the services were not easy to access. The website does not list any customer support hours or have any online support options.

There are also reports of emails not being answered when customers tried to reach out for help that way. These plans seem like great options for access to information, but they may not be especially helpful if you actually have your identity stolen.

Experian’s IdentityWorks Plus and Premium plans offer solid, helpful identity protection services. If you need credit monitoring for rebuilding your credit or because of previous identity theft, these are good plans. It’s best to pay the extra money and get the Premium plan because of the extra FICO score and credit report information you get.

Be aware, though, that when you sign up, you’ll still need to be ready to take a lot of action on your own if your identity is compromised, and Experian’s customer service has been reported as less than stellar.

We evaluated Experian’s IdentityWorks plans by reading through its website and comparing the plans to others offered by alternate companies. We also spoke with an online security expert and people who have experienced identity theft, and we combed internet reviews.  For more information, see the SafeWise methodology.

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1. Sam Thielman, The Guardian, "Experian Hack Exposes 15 Million People's Personal Information," October 2015. Accessed April 5, 2022.