Wednesday is the deadline to seek cash payments and claim free services as part of Equifax's $700 million settlement over a massive data breach.
The breach in 2017, affecting 147 million people, was one of the largest ever to threaten private information. The compromised data included Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver license numbers, credit card numbers and in some cases, data from passports. Criminals can use those bits of personal information to commit identity theft.
Equifax's settlement with the U.S. government entitles affected consumers to free credit-monitoring and identity-restoration services for the next several years. Consumers may also be eligible for money for their time or reimbursement for certain services.
You can make a claim if you can show you suffered identity theft "fairly traceable" to the breach or if you can document you spent time and money dealing with securing your credit because of the breach, even if you weren't subject to identity theft. That could include signing up for credit-monitoring services.
Here is what you need to know about the settlement and what actions you can take:
WHAT CAN YOU GET FROM THE SETTLEMENT?
You may be eligible for up to $20,000 in reimbursements for losses from unauthorized charges to affected accounts, legal and other fees, credit-monitoring or identity-theft-protection services and expenses related to freezing or unfreezing credit reports. For the time spent dealing with the breach, you can seek $25 per hour for up to 20 hours as compensation.
All impacted consumers are eligible to receive 10 years of free credit monitoring, at least seven years of free identity-restoration services, and, starting in 2020, six free copies of their ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
