“If you haven’t submitted your claim yet, think about opting for the free credit monitoring instead,” Schoshinski wrote. “Frankly, the free credit monitoring is worth a lot more — the market value would be hundreds of dollars a year.” People who have already chosen the cash option will be contacted and given a chance to change their minds, he added.But some experts said consumers can obtain free credit monitoring from various sources and that a better approach is to use a credit freeze.
Credit monitoring alerts people when there are changes in their credit reports that could signal fraudulent activity has occurred. A credit freeze, in effect, blocks applications for new credit in your name until you lift the freeze, so no one would be able to tap your credit if your identity was stolen.
“The right thing to do is get a credit freeze,” said Ed Mierzwinski, federal consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “Credit monitoring only tells you if your credit report has changed already, maybe because you’re a victim of identity theft. The horse already has left the barn.”
Ted Rossman, an analyst with CreditCards.com, agreed. “I would just take whatever [cash] payout they give” and get a credit freeze, he said. “I don’t really value the credit monitoring.”A freeze “effectively prevents someone else from opening credit in your name, so they can’t get a new car loan or any loan posing as you,” Rossman said.
In addition, credit monitoring is free from many sources, including certain credit-card companies and websites such as CreditKarma.com and Bankrate.com, a sister site to CreditCards.com.
I just called them on another matter and they tried to SELL ME credit monitoring for 4.95 a month! Grrrrr...
They couldn't keep our numbers safe before so why would anyone trust them to watch their credit. Whoever settled for so little needs to be fucking fired cause this is ridiculous.