![]() What if I have breach-related losses later? 19.Ĭhecks or prepaid cards for alternative reimbursement, time spent or out-of-pocket losses could take “several months or more,” according to the breach settlement website. A final approval hearing is scheduled for Dec. If you choose monitoring, you’ll get information on how to activate it once the court finalizes the settlement. You can apply online, print out an application form and mail it, or request that a form be mailed to you. 22, 2020, to file for any of these remedies. The settlement administrator will decide if your claim for out-of-pocket losses is valid. The money is split into various buckets for different kinds of claims. If that payment is not enough to pay initial claims, there is an additional $125 million available. Those claims will be paid from the $380.5-million fund Equifax has set up to pay for monitoring services and to compensate consumers. Those expenses can include credit monitoring after the breach, legal expenses, postage, notaries and more. The limit is $20,000 a person, and you’ll have to provide documentation. If it is exhausted, payouts will be reduced proportionally. There is another $31-million bucket of money to cover claims for time spent. Freezing and/or unfreezing your credit, comparing and/or purchasing identity theft protection services, up to 10 hours, and you must certify that you are being truthful.Dealing with fraud that was “fairly traceable” to the breach, up to 20 hours, and you’ll need documentation.You can get “up to” (there are those words again) $25 an hour you spent on: What about the time I spent protecting myself after the breach? There would need to be no more than 248,000 approved claims out of the 147 million consumers affected - or less than one-fifth of 1% - for approved applicants to get the full $125. What are the odds of getting the maximum $125? Settlement terms say that alternative reimbursement claims will be paid from a $31-million “bucket.” If there are enough claims to empty that bucket, the amount each person gets will drop as the pool of money is distributed proportionally. (Doing the math: Four years of that $19.99 monthly service would total $959.52.) The lowest price Experian advertises on its website for that coverage is $19.99 a month. ![]() The free credit monitoring gives you four years of free monitoring from Experian that covers the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You are choosing between a guaranteed minimum amount of free credit monitoring or compensation that could be far less than $125, depending on how many people apply. Or, if they already have credit monitoring, they can apply for alternative compensation of up to $125. Free monitoring or $125?Īll affected consumers can get free credit monitoring. Watch for qualifiers such as “up to,” and know the limitations of the settlement. You can find out if you were affected by going to the settlement website (), and get yourself on the list for free credit monitoring and/or monetary compensation.īut the compensation you apply for may not be what you end up with. adults who have credit) are finding themselves a bit confused by the avalanche of information that followed last month’s $700-million settlement announced by the Federal Trade Commission. “If that’s the trend, are we expecting customers to document everything they do after they’re affected by a breach? Every breach?” she asks.Consumers whose personal information was exposed during the 2017 Equifax data breach (that’s most U.S. Up until now, that’s been unprecedented for data breach settlements, says Charity Lacey, of the Identity Theft Resource Center. Before you file for reimbursement, consider that, first, consumers will generally be expected to document their damages and time spent dealing with the problem-and the more money you ask for, the more documentation you’ll be asked to provide. (To apply for reimbursement, go to .)Ĭaveats. You won’t need to prove that Equifax is to blame for any identity fraud you’ve dealt with as long as it occurred after the breach and your data was involved. For other expenses-accounting fees, unauthorized account withdrawals and the like-customers can ask for up to $20,000 in restitution. You can request reimbursement for up to 20 hours spent on reclaiming your identity, at a rate of up to $25 per hour. There is some good news: If you’ve spent time or money since September 2017 dealing with the breach, you have a few options. Identity Theft: Act Now to Protect Yourself
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