Target Customers: Get 1 Year of Credit Monitoring Free

In an effort to repair its reputation with consumers and soften the impact of its massive data breach, Target sent out an email on Monday to thousands of its customers offering one year of free credit monitoring from Experian.

The security breach, which affected up to 110 million customers, occurred sometime between late November and mid-December, and was first publicly disclosed on December 19, 2013. It resulted in the theft of names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses in addition to debit and credit card information.

In order to get the year of free credit monitoring from Experian, Target customers need to register at creditmonitoring.target.com with their name and email address before April 23, 2014. Then, within 72 hours of registration, they will receive an email from Target with a unique activation code and sign up instructions for the year of free credit monitoring. After receiving their code, they must visit www.protectmyid.com/target to sign up for the free year of service. Customers have until April 30, 2014 to redeem their codes.

The credit monitoring service being offered by Target is known as ProtectMyID Alert from Exerpian. Some of the features of the service include:

• Credit Report: You will get a free copy of their Experian credit report. If you enroll online, your report will be available online. Online credit reports are available for 30 days.
• Daily Credit Monitoring: You will receive alerts for one year that reflect changes to your Experian credit report during your membership term. This includes new inquiries, newly opened accounts, new derogatory information (such as delinquencies or medical collections) and more.
• Identity Theft Resolution: If confirmed that you have been the victim of identity theft, you will be assigned a dedicated, U.S.-based Experian Fraud Resolution Agent who will walk you through the fraud resolution process—and remain available to answer questions—from start to finish.
• Identity Theft Insurance: If you have been a victim of identity theft relating to this incident, you will immediately be covered by a $1 million insurance policy that can help you cover certain costs, including lost wages, private investigator fees, and unauthorized electronic fund transfers for one year.
• ProtectMyID ExtendCARE: Access to personalized assistance from a highly-trained Fraud Resolution Agent will continue even after the initial one year ProtectMyID membership expires.

A complete FAQ relating to the free credit monitoring service provided by Target can be found here.