Overview
Zander Insurance offers a subscription identity theft protection plan available for individuals and families. Although there’s no app, it does boast a recommendation from Dave Ramsey. Zander’s plans offer low-cost coverage over several sources, including credit reports, personal information databases, and a Child Information Scan which notifies for information about minors in users’ households.
How Zander Works
Zander’s main offering is a cloud-based member area which is where it displays all notifications and client management options. The company also recently launched mobile apps for both Android and iOS, providing customers with information to their critical account information on the go.
Zander Insurance operates a network of smart detection systems which are linked into various databases and are trained to constantly probe for information on behalf of the company’s customers. As such, there is no software for clients to download and all the ‘heavy lifting’ of monitoring and detecting is done on the company’s end. If notifications regarding detected fraudulent activity are received, customers can liaise with their account manager to resolve the issue and lock down their personal information.
What Does Zander Watch Out For?
Zander monitors information from a variety of sources in order to keep tabs on where its customers’ personal information might be winding up. Some of the specific pieces of information that the company proactively monitors for include:
Personal information (also called ‘PII’)
Also known as personally identifiable information (PII), this category includes any information which a hacker could use to gain access to your online accounts and which is unique to you. When combined, these become particularly dangerous. Examples include your cellphone number, email address, and social security number. Zander searches for these on both the regular internet and the “dark web” — a network of websites often containing illicit information which can only be accessed via a special browser and network called TOR. In addition to monitoring for common PII entities, Zander also searches for bank account numbers, medical insurance numbers, and driverslicenses.
Synthetic identities
Synthetic identities are created when scammers combine pieces of PII from various real-life people to create a new, completely fictive identity. These can be harder to detect than simple identity takeover attempts as monitoring programs designed to only focus on clusters of PII will often miss these. Zander will alert users in the event that an alias is being created based on one of their forms of identity.
Credit monitoring
Zander provides its users with access to free credit reports via its Annual Credit Report. Its monitoring in this department is not comprehensive, however, and the company openly states that it is does not believe that multi-bureau credit monitoring is useful for most individuals.
Zander also provides monitoring designed to thwart:
Social security fraud
Benefits and employment fraud
Home title and deed fraud
What Can Zander Do If My Identity Is Stolen?
Zander provides comprehensive identity theft recovery services. Its ID Theft Solutions department is dedicated solely to working with customers whose identities have already been breached. The team is comprised of Certified Recovery Specialists (CRS) who provide a fully customized service to help customers prevent further damage and secondary breaches.
The team will work to:
Alert all financial institutions, including bank accounts, credit cards, and others that customers’ details have been stolen.
Repay customers up to $1 million for stolen funds and expenses not covered by institutions’ theft insurance policies. Expenses which can be recouped under the guarantee include legal costs as well as out-of-pocket costs.
Unlike many identity theft protection providers, Zander’s US-based team is available to assist its clients 24/7, 365 days a year. This of course means that customers will never be without a team to call upon in the event that they suffer catastrophic identity theft.
How Easy Is It to Use
Signing up for identity theft coverage with Zander is quick and simple. Enrollment is handled directly online — users needn’t even speak to a representative in order to get their monitoring activated. Zander does not levy any minimum in terms of the personal information that customers provide — although obviously the more they do give the more comprehensive the monitoring will be. There are limits to how many particulars can be monitored, however. For email addresses, for example, customers can tie up to five with any one account.
The team is reachable 24/7 and customers can access their monitoring dashboard either through the online members-only login or via one of the smartphone apps.
Zander Customer Support
Zanders offers 24/7/365 support via its team of US-based specialists. In the event that a member suffers identity theft, they receive a dedicated case worker that has passed an internal certification attesting to their ability to help clients prevent further identity theft. These highly trained Certified Recovery Specialists (CRSs) can be reached by both phone and email to assist with resolving the breach and preventing it from recurring.
Pricing & Special Offers
Zander offers both plans for individuals and family members. The family plan, which covers an unlimited number of 1st-degree relatives, can also be adapted for the needs of employers and organizations such as professional associations which might wish to roll out identity theft protection for all their members.
The plans cost:
Individual Plan
$6.75 per month or $75 per year.
Family Plan
$12.90 per month of $145 per year.
All plans are eligible for the rebate guarantee as well as credit bureau monitoring reports. Zanders is a very cost-effective identity theft monitoring service for both individual users and families.
Bottom Line
Zanders is a great choice for individual and family users that want comprehensive identity theft protection that straddles both the professional and personal domains. The company has deep expertise in the insurance sector and can be reached around the clock.
