Two years ago, credit monitoring company Equifax experienced a huge data breach that exposed the data of close to 150 million consumers. Equifax has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of those consumers. The settlement has preliminary approval by the courts but won’t be final until the court gives final approval.
If your account was one of those affected by the breach, regardless of whether you suffered any actual damages or fraud you can request either $125 in cash or free credit monitoring services.
- At least 4 years of three-bureau credit monitoring, offered through Experian. You can also get up to 6 more years of free one-bureau credit monitoring through Equifax.
- If you already have credit monitoring services that will continue for at least 6 more months, you may be eligible for a cash payment of $125.
You may also be eligible for even more money if the breach caused you to become the victim of ID theft or fraud.
- the time you spent remedying fraud, identity theft, or other misuse of your personal information caused by the data breach, or purchasing credit monitoring or freezing credit reports, up to 20 total hours at $25 per hour.
- out-of-pocket losses resulting from the data breach.
- up to 25% of the cost of Equifax credit or identity monitoring products you paid for in the year before the data breach announcement.
Additionally, if you were the victim of ID theft or fraud, you are eligible for at least 7 years of free assisted identity restoration services to help you remedy the effects of identity theft and fraud.
You can check your eligibility for a settlement by following this link and providing your name and last six digits of your SSN: https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility
While this is a legitimate site, you are trusting them with your information.
If you were affected, you can then follow this link to file a claim:
https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/file-a-claim
Nothing is guaranteed until the final settlement is approved but it looks as if it will be.