TJX, the parent corporation of retailer TJ Maxx,
proposed a settlement to the class action suits leveed against it in what could be
largest credit card breach ever, approximately 45 million records. TJX is offering claimants up to three years of credit monitoring along with $20,000 identity theft insurance coverage.
This settlement sounds pretty good, until you read the fine print (via
Consumerist). In order to qualify for the settlement, you must have returned an item to the store without a receipt; this limits the claimants to approximately 455,000 people, or only about 1% of class. The remaining 44.5 million are only eligible for $30 vouchers in
store credit, and only with documented proof of a loss. This definitely seems like a slap on the wrist for TJX. Sure, it's bad, but surely TJX hasn't
lost 77% of its customer base from this incident. Finally, in a clever move at the end of the settlement proposal, TJX took this as an opportunity to announce that all of its stores will be having a 15% sale sometime in 2008. Way to turn a class action lawsuit settlement into free advertising, TJ Maxx.