Buzz
If you were impacted by Equifax's major data breach in 2017, you can now request compensation. The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with the credit bureau, allocating $425 million for the 147 million individuals whose data was exposed.
You might recall that when the breach was revealed in 2017, Equifax offered free credit monitoring for those whose information was compromised. However, the website designed to check if you were affected had issues, often showing inaccurate status updates. Plus, some people were understandably hesitant to trust Equifax with monitoring their identity and credit after the breach.
Now, you can visit the settlement website to find out if you're eligible for a share of the $425 million compensation fund.
Benefits of the Equifax Breach Settlement
Once the settlement is approved by a judge, you can file a claim to receive any combination of the following benefits.
1. Free credit monitoring for all three major credit bureaus for four years through Experian or six years of Equifax monitoring provided directly by Equifax. If you already have credit monitoring for at least six months, you may claim $125 in cash.
2. Cash compensation of up to $20,000 for the time you spent managing the effects of the breach. You can claim up to 20 hours of your time spent addressing fraud or freezing your credit at $25 per hour. You can also claim any out-of-pocket losses caused by the breach, along with up to 25% of the cost of any Equifax credit or identity monitoring services purchased in the year before the breach was made public.
3. Free identity restoration services for at least seven years.
Let’s revisit that $20,000 offer
If you're wondering how 20 times $25 adds up to $20,000, well, it doesn’t. This amount mostly applies to the out-of-pocket losses reported by those filing claims. These losses may include professional fees related to identity theft, fraud, or tampered tax returns, as well as administrative expenses like travel and document notarization.
To claim a significant sum from this settlement, you'll need to do some legwork. You can claim up to 10 hours spent handling the breach by providing details of what you did and the time it took. If you want to claim more than 10 hours, you must show that you experienced fraud, identity theft, or misuse of your data, and that it can be directly linked to the breach.
If you had to rebuild your financial security after the breach, you likely have a mountain of paperwork to back it up. Unfortunately, if you thought you could finally leave that pile behind, it’s not quite over yet.
How to check if you're eligible to file a claim
To determine if you’re eligible to file a claim for the settlement, visit the Equifax breach settlement website and scroll down to the green button labeled “Find out if your information was affected.” You’ll need to enter your last name and the final six digits of your Social Security Number.
The website will only tell you whether your personal information was part of the breach. Here's what the result will look like:
Afterward, you can proceed to file a claim. (For those who have opted out of online processes entirely, a printable mail-in version is available.) The deadline for filing is January 22, 2020. The final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for December 2019, so no funds will be distributed before that time.
