Equifax Data Breach Payout Smaller Than Expected
Equifax Data Breach: Payout Smaller Than Expected Scams & Fraud
For example, if you had to pay to freeze your credit after the breach or hired someone to help you deal with , you can still file a claim. According to the FTC, reimbursement and cash payments of up to $20,000 are available for: Time spent protecting your identity or recovering from identity theft, up to 20 hours at $25 per hour Money spent protecting your identity or recovering from identity theft Up to 25 percent of the cost of Equifax credit or identity monitoring that was purchased in the year before the breach Out-of-pocket losses tied to unauthorized charges or accounts
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Don' t Plan on Expected $125 Cash Equifax Payouts
FTC says ' overwhelming' public response will limit reimbursements consumers urged to opt for free credit monitoring
Irina Fedorova / Alamy Stock Photo If you were counting on collecting $125 from the , you're in for some bad news. The “overwhelming” public response to the $700 million agreement between the company and government regulators means that consumers whose data was hacked “will wind up only getting a small amount of money,” a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) official said Wednesday. Equifax Inc. admitted in September 2017 that cybercrooks had , making it one of the largest-ever data breaches in the country. People's names, dates of birth, , and credit card numbers and expiration dates were stolen. The payout for those affected by the breach will be “nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn't been such an enormous number of claims filed,” says Robert Schoshinski, assistant director of the FTC's Division of Privacy and Data Protection. Consumers who had their data hacked were offered free credit monitoring for up to 10 years or a cash payment of $125 to pay for credit monitoring they could certify they already had. But the pot of money available for the $125 payouts is only $31 million — not enough to meet the demand. The FTC estimates that 4.5 million people have already visited its Equifax settlement website. If you have not yet filed a claim, the FTC now recommends that consumers hit by the breach consider choosing the free credit-monitoring services, not the cash payout. The commission says that credit monitoring is “worth hundreds of dollars and comes with identity-theft insurance and restoration services." On the other hand, if you already have chosen the cash option, the settlement administrator will email you and give you the option of either submitting additional information needed to process your claim or switching over to the free credit monitoring, the FTC says. Consumers are also being urged to protect themselves by putting a unless they have plans to apply for a loan or credit card. People later may unfreeze their credit to apply for loans or credit.Some reimbursement money available
There is some good financial news on the Equifax front. Money is available from the settlement to reimburse people for what they have already paid out of pocket to recover from the breach.For example, if you had to pay to freeze your credit after the breach or hired someone to help you deal with , you can still file a claim. According to the FTC, reimbursement and cash payments of up to $20,000 are available for: Time spent protecting your identity or recovering from identity theft, up to 20 hours at $25 per hour Money spent protecting your identity or recovering from identity theft Up to 25 percent of the cost of Equifax credit or identity monitoring that was purchased in the year before the breach Out-of-pocket losses tied to unauthorized charges or accounts
Some key resources br
To file a claim, visit the . To contact the administrator, email [email protected]. For more information, call 833-759-2982, toll-free. can help you spot and avoid scams. Sign up for free , review our , or call our toll-free at 877-908-3360 if you or a loved one suspect you’ve been a victim.More on Scams and Fraud
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