If you already filed a claim for the Equifax Data Breach, read this!
The 2017 Equifax Data Breach exposed the personal information of over 140 million people, and as a result, Equifax agreed to a global settlement. This settlement includes up to $425 million to help anyone affected by the data breach.
As of last week, the Equifax Data Breach Settlement page stated that those persons affected could file a claim for 10 years of free credit monitoring OR a $125 per person payout (with a cap of $31 million).
Since millions of affected people selected the $125 payout option in just the first week alone, each person who takes the money option is now going to get a very small amount since there is only a total of $31 million to disperse (i.e. the original estimated amount of $125 per affected person has decreased to a very small amount).
For this reason, the settlement administrator will be sending an email to people who already submitted a claim with the opportunity to change their selection.
Equifax is encouraging most everyone affected to take advantage of the free credit monitoring, which has a market value of hundreds of dollars per year. The cash option will still be available to those who previously submitted, but the amount you will receive is likely to be very disappointing and will not include the free credit monitoring.
To change your claim, just reply to the email you receive from the settlement administrator, or send an email to info@EquifaxBreachSettlement.com. If you’d like to keep the payout option, you may be asked to provide additional information.
If you were affected and have not filed yet, you can now choose from the following remedies:
- Free Credit Monitoring and Identity Theft Protection Services – up to 10 years of free credit monitoring
- Cash Payments (capped at $20,000 per person) – for expenses you paid as a result of the breach, like losses from unauthorized charges to your accounts, the cost of credit monitoring etc
- Free Help Recovering from Identity Theft
- Free Credit Reports for all U.S. consumers – starting in 2020, get six additional free credit reports per year for seven years from the Equifax website.
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