LifeLock for Seniors, Tested and Reviewed in 2024
LifeLock offers comprehensive identity theft protection plans, starting at $7.50 per month.
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SeniorLiving.org is supported by commissions from providers listed on our site. Read our Editorial Guidelines
LifeLock, owned by technology giant GenDigital, was one of the first cybersecurity companies to provide identity theft protection. LifeLock is a monitoring service, so it won’t stop fraud from striking. Rather, the company discovers fraud and notifies you quickly if identity theft occurs. It’s not perfect, but that level of protection is highly beneficial since it enables you to mitigate and combat the effects of identity theft before significant damage to your assets occurs.
LifeLock offers identity theft protection services that help you safeguard your personal information and finances from fraud. Unfortunately, older adults are an often-targeted group. One in 10 seniors is a victim of identity theft annually, and the average victim of elder fraud loses over $33,000, according to the FBI, although many people lose much more.
In addition to LifeLock, GenDigital owns Norton, a cybersecurity company that monitors and protects digital devices from cyberattacks. If you have a Norton account, you may already have LifeLock identity theft protection since it’s available as a bundle with Norton. One of our tech experts had two LifeLock accounts for several months before realizing it, during which time she was paying monthly bills for both. Make sure to check your existing Norton account before you buy LifeLock!
With LifeLock’s protection plans, you can install software on your computer and phone to keep your private data and financial accounts safe. To help you decide if LifeLock is for you, here’s my experience with their identity theft protection plans, including features, cost, benefits for seniors, and more.
Viewing the LifeLock dashboard in our account
Pros About LifeLock
- Mobile app with alerts and notifications regarding your personal privacy
- 24/7 customer service
- Reimbursement of stolen funds
- Compensation of personal expenses from identity theft
Cons About LifeLock
- Rates increase after the first year
- Notification for double billing is not provided
How LifeLock Works
I found the sign-up process for LifeLock quick and easy.
- Visit the company’s website.
- Click “Pricing” or “Start Membership” to view plans.
- Once you’ve compared plans and decided which one is right for you, click “Start Membership.” From there, LifeLock will walk you through finalizing your plan and the payment process.
Once you sign up, you’ll provide LifeLock with information they’ll need to keep your identity protected, including your address, bank accounts, Social Security number, and credit card details.
LifeLock Plans at a Glance
| LifeLock plan | Features | Price for one user | Price for two users | Price for families |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard |
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| Ultimate Plus |
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LifeLock provides peace of mind with identity theft protection, reimbursement for stolen funds, and compensation for expenses related to identity theft.
LifeLock Plans and Prices: The Details
LifeLock Standard: Best for Those on a Tight Budget
Plan Features
With LifeLock Standard, you get their basic features for protecting your identity, including Social Security number monitoring, credit monitoring at one bureau, and data breach alerts. It also includes an antivirus service for your computer and phone, so you can remain protected on all technological devices.
Viewing LifeLock alerts and notifications
This plan is a great bet if you’re budgeting on a fixed income. It’s good for older adults who need their bases covered for credit, personal data, and Social Security, but don’t have that many social media accounts or significant investments. If you don’t want to spend time monitoring all your online accounts and want to know where else your personal data may be breached, LifeLock Standard is invaluable. Their stolen funds reimbursement gives you a safety net so you can worry less about identity theft.
Price
The price for an annual subscription for one adult is $89.99 for the first year, making it the best option for budget-conscious users. After the first year, your plan will cost $124.99 per year. If you choose to pay monthly for your subscription, it is $7.50 per month for the first year and renews at $11.99 per month.
Money Saving Tip: Get the best value for identity theft protection services by comparing plans. You can check out our guide to the best identity theft protection for seniors in 2024.
Looking to protect more people? LifeLock offers plans for multiple users and families. For two adults, the subscription costs $149.87 for the first year and renews at $249.99 per year. There’s no specific family plan, but LifeLock Junior can be added for $65.99 per child for the first year. The renewal cost is the same, at $65.99 per child.
Family plans cost $221.87 for the first year and renew at $359.99 per year. That includes protection for two adults and three children. If you decide to pay monthly instead of annually, you’ll pay a bit more.
LifeLock Ultimate Plus: Best for Large Investments and Top-Tier Protection
Plan Features
LifeLock Ultimate Plus includes all the features in the Standard plan, plus additional services, including:
- Up to $1 million in stolen funds reimbursement
- Up to $1 million in personal expense reimbursement
- Monthly credit score tracking
- 401(k) and investment account monitoring
- Bank account takeover and application monitoring
- File-sharing network searches
- Sex offender registry reports
- Three-bureau credit monitoring
- Home title monitoring
- Social media monitoring
- Alerts on crimes committed in your name
- Identity lock, payday loan lock, and Transunion credit file lock
One of our team members has had the Ultimate Plus plan for 10 years, and he feels very protected from the impacts of identity theft. When someone tried to set up credit under his name, LifeLock asked for his confirmation and he denied it. Quick and easy!
We recommend the Ultimate Plus plan for seniors whose assets and accounts are worth a significant amount, older adults with investment accounts, and users who want the most protection possible. The plan is also great for people who want credit monitoring from all three bureaus and those who want to avoid scams that target older adults.
Viewing our LifeLock Credit Lock settings
Price
The LifeLock Ultimate Plus plan for one adult is $239.88 for the first year, and it renews at $339.99 per year. The plan costs $395.88 for two adults for the first year and renews at $679.99 per year. LifeLock Junior can be added for $65.99 per child for the first year, and it renews at the same price.
The Ultimate Plus plan may be worth it for you and a spouse who needs significant fraud protection and has high-value accounts and assets. Otherwise, I recommend sticking to LifeLock’s Standard plan.
Our Experience With LifeLock
We’ve had a positive experience with LifeLock. With the exception of billing issues, LifeLock does what it sets out to do: provide identity theft monitoring and protection.
In the 10 years that one of our team members has had LifeLock, he has received timely notifications of potential identity and financial breaches that were fraudulent. That may have saved him from financial hardship and lots of hassle down the road.
LifeLock's Million Dollar Protection package
We also like LifeLock’s credit-monitoring service, which is straightforward and proactive. We were able to request a new free report whenever we wanted one.
LifeLock’s Million Dollar Protection package provides peace of mind in the event that our information was stolen.
We also like LifeLock’s privacy monitoring, which alerts you to data broker websites that have your personal information available for sale. We could easily request that our information be removed.
Using LifeLock's privacy monitoring
Comparing LifeLock to the Competition
Competitors such as Aura Identity Guard offer similar features to LifeLock at higher prices. Some competitors, such as Experian IdentityWorks, offer monitoring for free, but they don’t provide financial compensation for lawyers and experts if you experience identity theft or financial fraud.
When it comes to cost, LifeLock offers great overall value for the features in their plans. One drawback with LifeLock is that their rates increase after the first year, which isn’t the case with many of their competitors. Our account automatically updated annually, but one of our colleagues cancelled her plan online and was immediately offered a price cut. If you’re budget conscious, you can give that strategy a try.
Below is a quick comparison of LifeLock and other popular brands.
| LifeLock | Aura Identity Guard | Experian IdentityWorks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $7.50 to $32.99 for the first year | $9.99 to $24.99 | Free service |
| Dark web monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic price increases | Yes, starting the second year | Renewable for the second year at the same cost, price increases may occur afterward | N/A |
| 3-bureau credit monitoring | Yes, with some plans | Yes, with all plans | Yes |
FYI: Health insurance scams are among the most common ones that target Read about our study on senior scams to learn more.
LifeLock Standard includes only one-bureau credit monitoring, while LifeLock Ultimate Plus includes three-bureau monitoring. Unless you decide to opt for LifeLock’s priciest plan, you won’t have monitoring for your credit reports or receive scores at all three bureaus. Keep in mind that if one score changes, the other scores often change as well. You can check them manually through a free service such as Credit Karma, but you may want to consider IdentityForce if that feature is important to you. Their plans with three-bureau monitoring are around the same price as LifeLock Ultimate Plus for the first year, but IdentityForce doesn’t increase prices after the first year like LifeLock does, so you’ll save money over time.
Customer Service
LifeLock offers 24/7 customer service either by phone or live chat on their website. If you need to reach them to get more information on LifeLock’s plans or for help with your account, it’s easy to get hold of a customer representative. I both called and live chatted with a customer representative. Both times, it took very little time to connect to a live rep.
Customer Reviews
LifeLock has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and 1.09 out of five stars in customer reviews. The number of complaints logged is pretty small, at 393 within the last 12 months. Most of the complaints center on the same issue one of our team members experienced: double billing. Make sure to check the features included in all your GenTech accounts before opting in to LifeLock.
LifeLock App
LifeLock’s app is very easy to use, and I like that it provides recommendations on additional ways I can protect myself. Given the never-ending stream of new scams targeting seniors, I very much appreciate that extra layer of customer service.
With their mobile app, you get notifications about potential incidents of fraud or identity theft right away. It’s also straightforward to navigate, so you can use it with ease.
Our Methodology
To review LifeLock’s services, we leaned into our own experience as customers. Several of us have had LifeLock for many years, so we were able to use our first-hand experience with the service, including customer service, monitoring, and the mobile app. We also examined LifeLock’s customer-service reviews on sites such as the Better Business Bureau to get a sense of other people’s experiences.
Below are some of the most important factors we considered when evaluating LifeLock for older adults.
- Cost: LifeLock offers a budget-friendly plan and a more expensive plan that provides full monitoring and protection. For seniors, the Standard plan may be enough to provide peace of mind.
- Family coverage: Bad guys target children almost as often as older adults. If you have grandchildren who use the internet, you can add them to your plan at a reasonable cost. We like that added child protection does not increase in cost for the second year of service.
- Transparency of billing: This is a point of concern, since double billing seems to be a common complaint. You can avoid it by making sure you have only one LifeLock subscription.
- Customer service: LifeLock’s customer service is uneven. Their sales and monitoring departments are easy to access and connect with, but we found that their billing department is hard to work with. It takes time for billing issues to be resolved.
- Monitoring service: LifeLock’s monitoring service works behind the scenes, but it seems to be fast to notify customers of breaches. They’re also quick to reach out for confirmation if suspicious activity occurs.
The Bottom Line on LifeLock
LifeLock makes it easy to keep your accounts and personal information safe so you don’t have to worry about falling prey to fraud or identity theft. The premium plan may be on the expensive side, but the Standard plan is worth the cost if you’re just looking for basic protection.
I appreciated that the company made it simple to keep track of personal information that may be vulnerable to scams on the internet.
LifeLock does a great job of covering all the bases and making sure you’re protected against identity theft. You’ve worked hard saving up for retirement over the years. It’s important to keep your savings protected, so you can enjoy them for years to come!
Frequently Asked Questions About LifeLock
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Does LifeLock have a senior discount?
LifeLock does not have a senior discount.
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How much is LifeLock?
LifeLock’s plans start at $89.99 for the first year. If you pay monthly, their plans start at $7.50 per month for the first year. Rates increase for monthly and annual plans after the first year.
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Does LifeLock protect my Social Security number?
Yes, LifeLock protects your Social Security number by monitoring websites and places on the internet where that information may be found.
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What is LifeLock’s refund policy?
LifeLock has a 60-day money-back guarantee for annual plans, so you can get a refund within that time frame if you decide it’s not right for you. For monthly plans, a refund is eligible within 14 days of purchasing a membership.
National Council on Aging. (2021). 10 Financial Scams Targeting Seniors.