No. The proposition is, we'll show you the data we have.
Which is the exact same as what the law already requires (if you ask, free once per year in the US I believe) them to do, but of course the law doesn't require a snazzy web site with animated dials and explanatory videos.
If you're the sort of person who found it easier to get a few hours of exercise every week once they had a device telling them "You've only done 14 minutes of exercise today. That's not on track", then a credit monitoring service might be just the thing you need to actually pay off those cards on time and get your credit back into shape. But if you didn't buy that Fitbit, but did the same exercises, you'd get just as fit - and if you didn't buy credit monitoring but looked after your credit you'd find it easier to qualify for more credit.
So, having the monitoring might cause you to catch mistakes somebody made, and if you do you can inform them of the problem and they'll fix it (if you have documentary evidence) but it doesn't really change their actions compared to people who don't buy monitoring.
If you're thinking, wait, then why do they give you free credit monitoring when a big company loses your data? The answer is, because CRAs had existing sales people in those big companies, and when the big companies wanted to buy something to give peace of mind to people whose data they'd lost, "free credit monitoring" was on offer. Selling them something that actually helps is trickier, and what does it really mean exactly to actually help anyway?
I worked on a product like that, but it wasn't an easy sell. And for most users it seems exactly like it doesn't do anything. Like owning a Carbon Monoxide alarm. It seems to be working, but it doesn't actually go off, because you don't actually have a Carbon Monoxide leak, so... It's unclear what the online equivalent of the reassuring "I have power and am working" LED is, let alone the "Push to test" button. But outfits like Experian are aware that some kind of actual "Do bad guys actually have my stolen data and if so what do they have?" service is a better fit for those "data loss => free credit report" scenarios which is why they acquired the company I worked for when we were doing this.
Which is the exact same as what the law already requires (if you ask, free once per year in the US I believe) them to do, but of course the law doesn't require a snazzy web site with animated dials and explanatory videos.
If you're the sort of person who found it easier to get a few hours of exercise every week once they had a device telling them "You've only done 14 minutes of exercise today. That's not on track", then a credit monitoring service might be just the thing you need to actually pay off those cards on time and get your credit back into shape. But if you didn't buy that Fitbit, but did the same exercises, you'd get just as fit - and if you didn't buy credit monitoring but looked after your credit you'd find it easier to qualify for more credit.
So, having the monitoring might cause you to catch mistakes somebody made, and if you do you can inform them of the problem and they'll fix it (if you have documentary evidence) but it doesn't really change their actions compared to people who don't buy monitoring.
If you're thinking, wait, then why do they give you free credit monitoring when a big company loses your data? The answer is, because CRAs had existing sales people in those big companies, and when the big companies wanted to buy something to give peace of mind to people whose data they'd lost, "free credit monitoring" was on offer. Selling them something that actually helps is trickier, and what does it really mean exactly to actually help anyway?
I worked on a product like that, but it wasn't an easy sell. And for most users it seems exactly like it doesn't do anything. Like owning a Carbon Monoxide alarm. It seems to be working, but it doesn't actually go off, because you don't actually have a Carbon Monoxide leak, so... It's unclear what the online equivalent of the reassuring "I have power and am working" LED is, let alone the "Push to test" button. But outfits like Experian are aware that some kind of actual "Do bad guys actually have my stolen data and if so what do they have?" service is a better fit for those "data loss => free credit report" scenarios which is why they acquired the company I worked for when we were doing this.