ID Watchdog: The Smart Choice for Protecting Your Identity

In today’s hyper-connected world, identity theft is a growing threat that affects millions of Americans every year. If you’ve ever wondered whether identity protection services are worth it, the data tells a clear story: being proactive is no longer optional.

ID Watchdog, an identity monitoring tool powered by Equifax, offers more peace of mind for consumers - and particularly for families - during these times when identity theft is more prevalent and can be more costly than ever before.

The Reality: The Growing Threat of Identity Theft

Identity theft can affect anyone of any age group, technical skill level, and education level. Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated and capable. Here’s a snapshot of what we’re Before we talk about solutions, it’s important to understand the scale of the problem:

• Over 1.1 million identity theft complaints were reported in 2024
• Americans lost $23 billion to identity fraud in 2023
• Every 4.9 seconds, someone in the US is impacted by identity theft

While the financial impact can be large, there’s an even bigger impact to your wellbeing. Dealing with the fallout from identity theft can impact your sense of safety and can take an emotional and mental toll in addition to the financial costs.

How ID Watchdog Can Help 

More Sophisticated Monitoring Options

Identity theft today goes far beyond stolen credit cards. It can involve:

• Social Security number misuse
• Dark web exposure
• New account fraud
• Tax or employment fraud
• Acquisition of minors’ identity

ID Watchdog provides broad monitoring across these categories, helping detect threats early.

2. Family Protection Features

Children can be targets of identity theft even though they do not have credit established. In fact, many scammers actually target children because they can use their identities for years undetected.

ID Watchdog offers family plans and child monitoring, so that it’s easier to

• Monitor multiple family members under one account
• Receive alerts connected to each individual family member
• Protect your children and ensure they have a clean slate for their finances when they are ready

3. Dedicated Resolution Specialists

Oftentimes discovering you’ve been impacted by fraud is just the first step in a long and difficult journey. It can take hours upon hours of time on the phone and many dead ends to clean up all the mess made by fraudsters.

When you have ID Watchdog on your account, you can reduce that effort significantly because you’ll have access to identity resolution specialists. These knowledgeable professionals will work side-by-side with you as you:

• Restore your identity
• Communicate with creditors and agencies
• Ensure you’re able to safely use your accounts and re-secure your information

Because they handle fraud issues every day, the resolution specialists are well-versed in handling these situations and can save hours (or even weeks) of stress and confusion while you clean up the mess that fraudsters have made.

4. Credit Monitoring and Alerts

Credit card fraud remains the most common type of identity theft. With credit card information on hand, a fraudster can quickly run up charges and leave you holding the bag. That’s why ID Watchdog offers tools to let you know quickly if someone attempts to apply for credit in your name. The credit monitoring services include:

• Access to information across all three major credit reporting bureaus
• Instant alerts for suspicious activity
• Notifications for new accounts or inquiries

That means when you get an alert, you can quickly spring into action and ensure that you have the best chance of stopping the fraudster before significant damage occurs.

5. Identity Theft Insurance for Financial Protection

While many cards include fraud liability assurances, there are still significant costs that can be incurred when it comes to dealing with identity theft and fraud. With ID Watchdog, you can access reimbursement funds, which can include:

• Up to $5 million in identity theft insurance coverage
• Up to $2 million in stolen funds reimbursement
• Coverage for stolen cash or lost wallet
• Up to $50,000 in cyber crime coverage

It’s an added safety net in case the unthinkable happens and you are forced to try to recover after an identity theft issue.

6. Proactive Alerts 

Fraud is evolving fast and scammers now have even more technology and resources at their disposal. It can feel embarrassing to fall prey to a scammer, but you’re not the only one - plenty of very intelligent, very well-versed people are tricked by scammers who create a sense of urgency or use fear to manipulate people.

The proactive alerts from ID Watchdog give you more tools to stop potential fraud early. Instead of waiting for a monthly statement to arrive or for a credit report to come back with an unusually low score, alerts can give you real-time access to stopping fraudsters.

As we face the growing challenge of identity theft, your financial institution continues to put safeguards in place that protect you and your accounts. However, you are the first line of defense, and a tool like ID Watchdog can make it easier for you to protect, monitor and defend your finances.

If you are ready to add ID Watchdog to your accounts, it takes just minutes to get started. Kasasa Checking users can send a message in Digital Banking to start the process and feel a little more comfortable with the level of security and safeguards keeping your account protected.