Q: I'm looking into possibly signing up for a plan to protect against theft identity, but I'm hesitant because I do not want these companies to keep my personal information when I decide to cancel. Doing these companies protection against identity theft remove my personal information when I cancel my membership, or will they keep my personal information even after cancellation
A: Great question! More than nine million Americans have their identities stolen each year, according to the FTC, and one of the best ways to prevent identity theft is to know that your personal information. Since these firms specialize in identity theft protection, they have very safe and secure ways to keep your private information, it is important to know that a handful of services to always keep your personal information in the folder even after you cancel.
Some identity theft protection services - like Identity Guard, Lifelock, ProtectMyID.com and Equifax Complete Premier - not delete all your personal information when you cancel your membership. Instead, they suppress certain information, such as bank account numbers, and archive the basic information required for membership, such as the name and social security number. They archive information just in case you decide to register for protection in the future.
Only three of identity theft protection services that we review - TrustedID, PrivacyGuard and IDFreeze - completely delete your personal information their systems after the cancellation. All three services will keep your information for a period of time in case you decide to get protection again, and completely remove your system information. With TrustedID IDFreeze and your personal information will be purged from the system within 90 days of cancellation.
look at our compare to learn more about each service protection against identity theft, or visit our FAQ for more information on identity theft protection services in general.