In September of 2017, Equifax announced a data breach exposing the personal information of 147 million people. Are you one of the consumers whose data was compromised? If so, under a legal settlement, you may claim free services and payments. For the people impacted, Equifax has established a $425 million Consumer Fund.
Consumers affected by the Equifax data breach may be eligible to apply for benefits. You have until January 22, 2020 to submit a claim online or by paper.
Benefits Available
Free Credit Monitoring Services
- You can get up to 4 years of free credit monitoring of your credit report at all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).
- You are eligible for 6 more years of free credit monitoring of your Equifax credit report.
Free credit reports
- You can request six free credit reports from Equifax in a 12-month period for seven years beginning January 2020. These are in addition to the free reports you’re already entitled to under the law.
Cash Payment
- If you have credit monitoring that will continue for at least 6 months and you decide not to enroll in the free credit monitoring offered in the settlement, you may be eligible for a cash payment of $125, depending on the number of claims submitted.
Reimbursement claims for your time
- You can request payment for time dealing with protecting personal identity or recovering from identity theft after the breach and for placing credit freezes.
Reimbursement claims for other cash payments
- You can request reimbursement for money spent protecting your identity or recovering from identity theft, like the cost of freezing or unfreezing your credit report or unauthorized charges to your accounts and for certain Equifax products before the breach.
Free Identity Restoration Services
- You are eligible for at least 7 years of free assisted identity restoration services to help you if someone steals your identity or you experience fraud.
Please note that none of these benefits will be distributed or available until the settlement is finally approved by the Court. Be sure to submit a claim by January 22, 2020 to be eligible to receive the free credit monitoring or cash reimbursements. Finally, Equifax will be required to make significant improvements to its data security practices in order that a data breach will not happen again.
