In September of 2017, consumer reporting agency Equifax announced that they had experienced a data breach which impacted 147 million people (almost half of the country). As of July 22nd, a federal court is considering a proposed class action settlement to resolve the grievances of consumers who filed the lawsuit after the breach. If you’ve used Equifax’s services in the past, or think you might have, you’re entitled to file a claim and receive a $125 payout at the minimum, which is honestly pennies, considering your private data has been breached.
Individuals can claim the $125 payouts as part of the $575 to $700 million settlement between Equifax and the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and 48 states (Indiana and Massachusetts still have pending cases against Equifax). If you’re wary of giving Equifax the last six digits of your Social Security number, birth date and mailing address… why?
They, unfortunately already know that information and more, as the breach revealed. $125 is literally the least they could do for you to make it right. Also, by getting paid you are motivating them to hold themselves to higher standards.
If you have a paper trail regarding this whole data breach, or you spent time clearing up suspicious credit activity that happened as a result of the data breach, feel free to take the extra time to claim additional lost time and expenses beyond the $125 payout, but you’ll have to submit a description of the time you lost and receipts indicating identity protection services or security purchases you’ve made since the aftermath of the breach. If you’ve had to go through those steps, get your money. Each individual is eligible to receive up to $20,000 as part of the settlement and can bill lost time at a rate of $25 per hour.
Visit the Equifax Data Breach Settlement Website to file a claim and get paid. Worst case scenario, and we say this without a drop of mean-spirited irony, someone already claimed it on your behalf.
