11/8/2023 0 Comments Ftc equifax data breach settlement![]() ![]() ![]() Or, if you filed a claim already and requested the $125, well, you still can change your mind and switch to the free credit monitoring service. Technically, the settlement stated that: If consumers choose not to enroll in the free credit monitoring product available through the settlement, they may seek up to $125 for the cost of another credit-monitoring product of their choice. They will be asking you for more information about the credit monitoring service you already have. Look for an email from the settlement administrator if you've already submitted a claim. And what if you've already submitted an Equifax claim? PIRG’s Federal Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski. "Your most important identity theft protection isn't in the Equifax deal it's your right by federal law to freeze your credit reports for free," said U.S. Wu told me she'd definitely recommend the cash, particularly since you can probably get free scores and/or credit reports from another source or your credit card. "Cash is king," said Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, in a Tweet. Some even suggest that you freeze your credit instead of opting for credit monitoring, if you really want to stop a crook from using your identity to open up a credit card or take out another kind of a loan in your name.Ĭredit report monitoring only alerts you to any suspicious activity or changes. Yet some consumer watchdogs say they'd rather opt for even a small amount of cash because many times consumers can obtain free credit monitoring elsewhere. The service is provided by a third party, not Equifax. It monitors your credit report with all three nationwide credit reporting agencies, and it comes with up to $1 million in identity theft insurance and individualized identity restoration services. "This monitoring service is probably stronger and more helpful than any you may have already," the FTC said. The alert, frankly, goes on to read a bit like an ad for credit monitoring. "Frankly, the free credit monitoring is worth a lot more - the market value would be hundreds of dollars a year," the FTC said. The FTC suggests opting for the free credit monitoring service for the next 10 years instead. The deadline to file is January 22, 2020. Didn't submit an Equifax claim yet?ĭon't worry, the FTC has an answer for those who have yet to submit a claim. The amount, frankly, is likely to be "nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn't been such an enormous number of claims filed," the FTC said. Translation: Don't expect to get a full $125. "A large number of claims for cash instead of credit monitoring means only one thing: Each person who takes the money option will wind up only getting a small amount of money," the FTC said. It was meant to compensate those who already had credit monitoring services or planned to obtain them elsewhere. Yet, the money wasn't meant to be a cash settlement, even if people interpreted it that way. So even if only 5 million people requested $125, the payout would likely be closer to $6.20 each. If there's only $31 million, a simple calculator shows that only 248,000 people would ever have had the chance at getting $125.Įquifax's massive data breach potentially compromised sensitive data, including Social Security numbers, for 147 million people. ![]() Just $31 million, so guess what? The math isn't likely to work in your favor. "The pot of money that pays for that part of the settlement is $31 million," the FTC said in a July 31 alert. Now the FTC says: "There's a downside to this unexpected number of claims." More: Equifax to pay $700M in data breach settlement: What your payout could look like More: Were you affected by Equifax data breach in 2017? Here's how to find out Instead, the claims are going through the Equifax Data Breach Settlement Administrator The FTC is not actually receiving claims. You can find out more about the settlement at ftc.gov/Equifax. We're talking about a lot of activity in less than two weeks since a $700 million settlement was announced on July 22 regarding the 2017 Equifax data breach. More than 4.5 million consumers have visited the FTC site where you can link to a spot to file a claim. Give people the idea that they can get a quick $125 out of the Equifax data breach and, well, they're going to see what kind of money they can get. ![]() Watch Video: Equifax settlement might not be worth it ![]()
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