Here’s How To Protect Yourself
It’s no secret that more and more Americans are turning to AI to help them with their personal finances. In fact, over half of consumers (55%) report using AI to aid their financial management decisions, according to TD Bank’s AI Insights Report. This number is up from 10% last year, and the data suggests consumers aren’t just experimenting — they’re increasingly relying on AI for more advanced financial tasks.
Two-thirds of consumers are most comfortable with AI helping perform functions like fraud detection, tracking spending and calculating credit scores, TD Bank found. But this begs the question: Should you be sharing personal finance information like your credit score with AI chatbots? Here’s what to know.
Sharing your credit score with AI
Take action to protect your identity
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Plans from $10 to $29 per month, billed annually
Protects against identity theft, financial fraud, spam calls, online theft, scam websites, viruses and malware. Offers VPN, 3-credit bureau monitoring, password manager and instant credit lock.
Should you share your credit score with AI?
With any information that you feed AI chatbots, Rod Griffin, senior director of consumer education and advocacy for Experian, encourages caution. This is especially true for sharing your personal finances.
While Griffin asserts that there may not be harm in sharing your credit score number itself, he warns consumers that they should refrain from sharing information about what’s on their credit report, especially account numbers. Since your information may be used in ways you’re not comfortable with, you should always read the terms of service and privacy policies when using an AI platform.
“Anytime you’re working on AI, you need to be thoughtful about what you share and understand how that information may be used and where it might be shared beyond that conversation that you’re having,” Griffin explains.
Never share personally identifiable information or specifics like account numbers. AI platforms, like other forms of technology, can be targets of data breaches and that may put your personal information you shared at risk.
How to protect yourself and reduce risk
There’s no way to fully shield your personal information when using tools like AI chatbots, but you can take steps to better protect it. Both identity theft protection and credit monitoring services, in particular, offer added layers of security by helping you catch suspicious activity early.
PrivacyGuard is one service that combines both credit and ID protection all in one. The platform also provides unique features like a dedicated identity fraud resolution agent, neighborhood reports, emergency travel assistance and medical records reimbursement.
PrivacyGuard®
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Cost
$9.99 to $24.99 per month
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Identity theft insurance
Up to $1 million for Identity Protection and Total Protection plans; none for Credit Protection plan
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Credit monitoring
Total Protection and Credit Protection plans both monitor your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports; Identity Protection doesn’t offer credit monitoring.
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Mobile app
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Family plan
Pros
- Option to choose the plan that suits you: Credit Protection, Identity Protection or Total Protection
- New users can try any plan for $1 for the first 14 days
Cons
- No family plan
- No identity theft insurance with Credit Protection plan
- Identity Protection plan doesn’t offer triple-bureau credit monitoring
With IdentityForce, all plans get dark web scanning, plus users will have their information on things like court records and activity on social media monitored. They’ll also get alerts about financial fraud, misuse of their medical ID and Social Security number.
IdentityForce®
On IdentityForce®’s site.
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Cost
UltraSecure Individual: $19.90 per month or $199.90 per year; UltraSecure+Credit Individual: $34.90 per month or $349.90 per year; UltraSecure Family: $24.90 per month or $249.90 per year; UltraSecure+Credit Family: $39.90 per month or $399.90 per year
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Credit bureaus monitored
3-bureau credit monitoring, alerts and reports: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion®, with UltraSecure+Credit Individual and UltraSecure+Credit Family plans only
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Credit scoring model used
VantageScore® 3.0, with UltraSecure+Credit Individual and UltraSecure+Credit Family plans only
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Dark web scan
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Identity theft insurance
Yes, at least $1 million with all plans
Pros
- 3-bureau credit monitoring, alerts and reports
- Free VantageScore® 3.0
- Dark web scanning
- Minimum $1 million identity theft insurance coverage
- Offers family plan
Cons
- Plans start at about $20 per month
- Doesn’t look at FICO® Score
If you care most about your credit score, all Experian IdentityWorks users receive updates to their FICO Score 8, the score many lenders tend to use. Plus, the platform offers a free version.
Experian IdentityWorks℠
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Cost
Basic: Free, Premium: $24.99 per month, Family: $34.99 per month (7-day free trial with paid plans)
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Credit bureaus monitored
Basic plan monitors Experian and FICO score and scans dark web. Premium plan comes with three-bureau (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) credit monitoring and alerts and social media reports. Family plan adds two adults and up to 10 children.
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Credit scoring model used
FICO® Score 8 with all plans
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Dark web scan
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Identity theft insurance
Up to $1 million with paid plans
Pros
- Free version available and free trial with paid plans
- 3-bureau credit monitoring, alerts and reports
- Free FICO® Score 8
- Dark web scanning
- Up to $1 million identity theft insurance coverage
Cons
- Advanced features cost extra
- Free version is very basic
*Identity Theft Insurance underwritten by insurance company subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). The description herein is a summary and intended for informational purposes only and does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions.
All Identity Guard plans include $1 million in identity theft insurance, plus users get data breach notifications and monitoring of high-risk transactions, bank accounts, social media and more.
Identity Guard
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Cost
From $7.50 to $25.00 per month, billed annually on individual plans and $12.50 to $33.33 per month, billed annually on family plans
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Identity theft insurance
Up to $1 million in insurance for eligible losses from identity theft
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Credit monitoring
The Total and Ultra plans monitor your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports; the Value plan doesn’t offer credit monitoring.
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Mobile app
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Family plan
Pros
- Option to choose from three plans: Value, Total and Ultra
- All plans provide identity theft insurance up to $1 million
- Variety of privacy tools that help reduce telemarketing calls, junk mail and more (free with annual plans)
Cons
- No credit monitoring with Value plan
Lastly, LifeLock is great for protecting your devices as it can monitor PCs, Macs, tablets and phones. While the service automatically monitors the dark web for your email address (and sends you alerts), you can add other personal information to look out for like your bank account numbers.
LifeLock™
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Cost
$8.29 to $34.99 per month
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Identity theft insurance
Up to $1 million for lawyers and experts; up to $25,000 to $1 million each for stolen funds reimbursement and personal expense compensation
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Credit monitoring
The Ultimate Plus plan monitors your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports; The Standard and Advantage plans monitor Equifax or TransUnion.
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Mobile app
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Family plan
Pros
- Choose between Standard, Advantage and Ultimate Plus plans
- All plans provide identity theft insurance
- Norton 360 software is integrated into some plans, offering protection against viruses, spyware, malware and other online threats for up to 5 PCs, Macs and Android devices
Cons
- You receive less identity theft insurance coverage with a Standard plan
- Standard plan lacks some alerts, like bank account and credit card activity
- Standard and Advantage plans only monitor one credit bureau
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Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.
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