TechRadar Verdict
Protecting your online identity does start with an actual insurance company involved. Zander Identity Theft Protection provides identity fraud protection and customer service help, which are fairly standard features among these services. The only standout feature is that it costs only $6.75 per month which is among the cheapest we’ve found from any ID protection vendor. However, it’s a bit disappointing that the app only offers fairly predictable features without anything else to distinguish it.
Pros
- +
Very low cost
- +
Included VPN on upper plan tier
- +
Family plan available
- +
Insurance company backing it
Cons
- -
Lackluster website
- -
Predictable features
- -
iOS app is not highly rated
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Our series on identity theft protection apps will evaluate the features, pricing options, competition, and also the overall value of using each app. However, these are not full hands-on reviews since evaluating identity theft protection apps is almost impossible. It would require several months of testing, purposefully hacking accounts to see if the protection app works, handing over personally identifiable information, performing multiple credit checks, and risking exposure of the reviewer’s personally identifiable information.
Most people don't really worry much about identity theft as we cheerfully use social media, the internet, and services that require credit cards to sign up for. That is, until you become a victim of it, at which point it turns into something that could be described as a nightmare. Victims attempt to repair their credit after having your bank account or credit card used fraudulently, while feeling completely frustrated and bewildered.
As Zander is an insurance provider first and foremost, it follows that Zander Identity Theft Protection places a strong emphasis on loss prevention and notifications. The backing of an insurance company does offer some peace of mind if the worst occurs, which is an obvious benefit, unlike most of the other identity theft products available, such as Norton LifeLock or Complete ID.
Unfortunately, Zander Identity Theft Protection focuses on cost-effectiveness rather than offering any unique or standout features. For instance, there are very little details on the website about what the program does. You start to get the impression that identity protection is really a gimmick to draw attention to Zander Insurance's other insurance offerings, which are prominently mentioned at the top of the website and include disability, vehicle, and health. Zander Identity Theft Protection is tough to recommend for anything other than basic protection if all you can afford is a low price. This is because it is lacking the long list of features, the excellent site design and interface, or the in-depth identity theft protections of its rival products.
Zander Identity Theft Protection: Plans and pricing
The price is actually the selling point. You may rely on an app that offers some fundamental features like fraud warnings, bank compromise difficulties, and social security theft with the beginner package, which costs $6.75 per month for an individual. Those who pay $75 annually, or $6.25 each month, can save a little money. A customer support representative is available by phone and can assist you in resolving issues. Nothing particularly stands out, although it does offer coverage for Home Title Fraud, Dark Web monitoring, coverage for up to $1,000,000 in Stolen Funds & Expenses, and a lost wallet service that can help you swiftly deactivate credit cards and replace whatever you lost in a wallet or handbag.
The family plan, which costs $12.90 a month, is an additional option. This applies to two adults and as many kids as you want. Additionally, it increases the coverage for Stolen Funds & Expenses to $2,000,000, with a cap of $1 million for each participant in the plan.
The Elite Plan is a higher tiered option as well. With a similar minor savings when paid yearly, it is still within reach at $9.99 per month for an individual, and $19.49 per month for a family. All of the coverage from the lower plan is included in this one, but UltraVPN for up to 20 devices (currently $7.99/month when paid on a month-to-month basis, but significantly less expensive with an annual subscription at $1.99/month with a two-year subscription), UltraAV Antivirus, Experian Credit Lock, monitoring for new accounts, and account takeover monitoring are also included. This turns into a decent packaged deal for individuals who require both a VPN and an antivirus.
Zander Identity Theft Protection: Interface
With a simple, white interface, Zander Identity Theft Protection keeps to the fundamentals. Your identity protection-related alerts, such as any issues with a bank account or credit card, are displayed by the app. Our top choice for interface and design, Norton LifeLock, certainly has a more polished appearance. With Zander Identity Theft Protection, there aren't any strong wizards explaining every aspect, and there aren't many status updates letting you know how much progress you've made in safeguarding your identity.
The Zander identity theft software for iOS smartphones has received mostly negative reviews, scoring 2.3 out of 5 stars, with 1 star reviews being the most frequent. Users indicate that the app's account creation process is challenging, that online logins are necessary to view phone alerts, and that cancellation is challenging.
Zander Identity Theft Protection: Features
The fact that all of the features in Zander Identity Theft Protection are pretty standard is the major lesson to be learned. You may say that you are getting mediocre features at a low price, and maybe that's good enough for some folks. There are all the standard fraud warnings and safeguards you would find in any other app. The majority of these applications also provide a hotline number to speak with an agent, so this is hardly a standout feature.
With regard to theft protection insurance, Zander Identity Theft Protection will reimburse you for stolen funds and expenditures up to $1 million on the lowest tier of plan and $2 million on the upper plan.
Zander Identity Theft Protection: The competition
This is a story about two things: the least expensive identity theft protection we could find was Zander, but it had few features. Even though the lowest pricing package we could find required a Costco membership, Zander Identity Theft Protection is less expensive: If you have the Exec plan at Costco, which is $120 yearly, Complete ID costs a more at $8.99 each month.
In essence, Zander's coverage is a mechanism to view fraud alerts and collaborate with customer service to address the issues. The software isn't in a position to compete with the big identity theft firms like Equifax, Experian, or Norton. Complete ID is the closest rival, but only because the prices are comparable.
However, Zander's higher tier offering does include a VPN and antivirus software, which, despite costing more money, makes it more alluring for people who wish to combine all of these services into one package. We also like that the VPN is from a known VPN provider, UltraVPN, as many ID theft providers that include a VPN don’t specify which one, or if it has essential features, such as a kill switch.
Zander Identity Theft Protection: Final verdict
Ultimately, because the basic Zander Identity Theft Protection is a generic offering, it can be hard to get excited about it. Even while the cost is very inexpensive, especially if you choose the annual subscription, you won't get the broad support and comprehensive capabilities of an application like IDNotify, Complete ID, Norton LifeLock, or IdentityForce.
What you do end up with is some basic alerts and protections that might be worth the small investment on a monthly or annual basis. We wish that website was more complete and explained more of the features - there’s really just a small section that lists a few of the alerts and the customer service hotline. The problem is that identity theft is not really something to take lightly. Picking a product only by the low price might be a recipe for disaster.
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