Rhode Island could pay over $1.5M for credit monitoring after mailing error

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The State of Rhode Island may end up paying more than $1.5 million for credit monitoring services tied to a W-2C mailing error that affected about 22,000 current and former state employees.

According to the Department of Administration, Rhode Island agreed to pay Experian a fixed fee of $85,142.40 to launch the credit monitoring program. The state will also pay an additional $65.57 each time a recipient uses a mailed code to activate the service.

Officials said the redemption codes will remain active for one year and expire in March 2027, and therefore a final price has yet to be determined.

The monitoring was offered after state officials acknowledged that some corrected W-2C mailings may have exposed Social Security numbers through envelope windows earlier this year.

If all 22,000 eligible recipients activate the service, the usage fees alone would total about $1,442,540. Combined with the fixed fee, the total potential cost would rise to approximately $1,527,682.40.

The issue stems from Rhode Island’s new state payroll and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which has already led to multiple payroll and tax form problems affecting state workers.

The state said the final amount paid to Experian will not be known until the redemption codes expire in March 2027 because officials do not yet know how many people will enroll in the service.