What you should know about the Equifax breach settlement?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a consumer alert regarding the Equifax Data Breach. In September 2017, Equifax announced a data breach, which affected the personal information of 147 million people. Under a recent settlement filed, Equifax agreed to spend up to $425 million to help people affected by the data breach.
How to submit claim from Equifax data breach?
- Obtain your free Credit Reports annually from Equifax, Trans Union and Experian at: annualcreditreport.com
- Dispute any incorrect information on your Credit Reports
- Shred any personal information before disposal
- Thoroughly review all bank and credit statements monthly
- Report Identity Theft immediately at the Federal Trade Commission
How to take advantage of the Equifax data breach settlement?
- Get a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 877-322-8228.
- Call the Equifax Settlement Administrator at 1-833-759-2982.
- Take advantage of any free services being offered as a result of the breach.
- Use two-factor authentication on your online accounts whenever available.
- Consider a credit freeze.
When will Equifax pay settlement?
Settlement benefits for eligible time spent and out-of-pocket losses are likely to begin issuing in fall 2022. The Equifax Data Breach Settlement website will provide updates. If you still have your claim number, you can enter it on the website and check the status of your claim.
Is the Equifax data breach settlement?
Equifax data breach settlement. In 2017, Equifax announced a breach that exposed the personal data of approximately 147 million people. The legal settlement is now final. Here's how you can use the services provided through the settlement to protect and monitor your credit.
Is the Equifax email legitimate?
No, that email from Equifax is not a scam. You are entitled to free credit monitoring for four years.
How do I know if Equifax breach affected me?
Equifax has created a website where you can find out if you have been affected by the breach. The website will ask you for the last six digits of your social security number and your last name, and then will tell you if you have been affected. You can also call 1-833-759-2982.
How do I know if I get Equifax settlement?
If you made a valid claim for Credit Monitoring Services, you will receive an email from the Equifax Data Breach Settlement Administrator (from the email address [email protected]) by February 25, 2022 providing you with information on how to activate your credit monitoring.
Why did I get an email from Equifax?
If you receive emails, texts, or calls from any person or company claiming to be Equifax or anyone else related to the data breach, they are probably an imposter scam. You should not open or respond to such communications.
What is Equifax email address?
Contact Business Care at phone number 1-888-407-0359 or email [email protected] (Business Clients only).
How much is the Equifax settlement per person?
Individual consumers who were wronged were supposed to be able to claim $125 each from the settlement—until, that is, the FTC and Equifax remembered the wronged were still 144 million strong and the settlement fund didn't have enough cash.
Does Equifax need my SSN?
We ask for personal information, such as your Social Security number, during the order process to verify your identity and to locate your Equifax credit report.
What happened to Equifax after the data breach?
In the wake of Equifax's 2017 data breach, which compromised the personal information of roughly 147 million consumers — including names, birthdates and Social Security numbers — the company ended up as the target of multiple lawsuits and reached a settlement in 2019 with the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection ...
Has anyone received money from Equifax breach?
After a data breach in 2017 exposed personal data of more than 147 million consumers, including in some cases Social Security and driver's license numbers, credit bureau Equifax agreed to pay hundreds of millions in compensation to help affected consumers.
How much can you get from a data breach settlement?
The settlement includes up to $425 million to help people affected by the data breach. The initial deadline to file a claim in the Equifax settlement was January 22, 2020.
Has Equifax settlement been approved?
Court Approves Equifax Breach Settlement: Money for Some, Free Credit Monitoring for All. Equifax will pay up to $425 million in restitution to those directly impacted by the massive data breach of the credit bureau in 2017. A federal court gave final approval to the class-action lawsuit settlement in mid-January.
Is Equifax a legitimate company?
Equifax is one of three national credit bureaus. These companies collect information about your credit history, such as how many credit cards you have, how much money you owe, and how you pay your bills.
What is the real Equifax website?
“Consumers should be aware of fake websites purporting to be operated by Equifax. Our dedicated website for consumers to learn more about the incident and sign up for free credit monitoring is https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com, and our company homepage is equifax.com.
Is it safe to use Experian IdentityWorks?
Experian IdentityWorks is a credible organization backed by one of the largest credit bureaus in the world. The company offers a number of attractive features, including affordable identity protection services, a 30-day free trial membership, and significant identity theft insurance.
What happened in the Equifax data breach?
The data breached included names, home addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, social security numbers, and driver's license numbers. The credit card numbers of approximately 209,000 consumers were also breached. The Equifax breach is unprecedented in scope and severity.
Here's the backstory
The Equifax data breach reported in July 2017 is one of the worst of all time. Critical information was stolen from over 147 million Americans, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth and home addresses.
How to take advantage of the Equifax settlement
The FTC verified the email’s legitimacy and that the settlement became final in January 2022. It went on to say the settlement administrator recently began sending emails and letters to people who filed a valid claim requesting free credit monitoring services from the settlement.
How much did Equifax pay for data breach?
It's been mere days since credit-reporting firm Equifax agreed to pay up to $700 million to settle claims over a massive 2017 data breach and already scammers are trying to exploit the deal to fraudulently get their hands on your personal information.
How to figure out if you are a settlement claimant?
On the settlement website, you can figure out whether you're one of the eligible claimants. Enter your last name and last six digits of your Social Security number in a website operated by the settlement administrator (not Equifax). If told your personal information was affected by the data theft, then you can file a claim.
What is the deadline for filing your claim?
The deadline to file claims is Jan. 22, 2020, for most benefits, and you won't receive anything until the settlement administrator gets the go-ahead from a court — that would be Jan. 23, 2020, at the earliest.
How to make sure you're not handing over sensitive financial information to a fake website?
To make sure you're not handing over sensitive financial information to a fake website, start your claims process on the FTC's Equifax page at ftc.gov/Equifax. The federal agency noted that consumers never have to pay a fee to claim benefits from the settlement and said anyone who calls to urge you to file a claim is most certainly a con artist.
How much can you claim for cyber theft?
People who were harmed in the cybertheft can also claim as much as $20,000 in cash reimbursement for expenses related to the breach. Those include fees to freeze or unfreeze credit reports, as well as for credit-monitoring services; losses from unauthorized charges to accounts; and any payments to lawyers and or accountants.
How long can you claim for identity theft?
You can make a claim for up to 20 hours of time spent dealing with the breach. The good news here is that backing documents aren't required, and you could see compensation for time you spend trying to recover from identity theft (or avoid it in the first place) of $25 an hour (up a maximum of 10 hours -- more than that and you will need documents backing up your additional time spent). You must certify that you are being truthful.
How long does Experian monitor credit?
Consumers impacted by the data breach are entitled to up to 10 years of free monitoring of their credit reports. You can also sign up for at least four years of monitoring services provided by Experian at no cost, or if you already have credit monitoring going, you can file to be compensated for up to $125 in cash.