Remember The Equifax Data Breach? Here's How To See If You Qualify For Settlement Money - Gothamist

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra discusses the settlement reached with Equifax over a 2017 data breach, during a news conference on July 22nd. (Shutterstock)

Remember when the credit reporting company Equifax fell prey to one of the largest cyber-security hacks in history, putting more than 147 million consumers’ personal data at risk—and also waiting more than a month to notify them about it?

The 2017 data breach (which led to a prison sentence for the Equifax CIO who quietly sold his stock options before the hack was made public) resulted in numerous federal investigations and a massive class action lawsuit against the company. Two years ago, then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman estimated that more than 8 million New Yorkers were affected by the breach and urged city residents to ask Equifax whether their data had been compromised; many people, of course, remained unaware.

Now there's an easier way to find out: equifaxbreachsettlement.com, a new site where you can file a claim and find out whether or not you qualify for money (just plug in your personal information—what can go wrong!). Equifax is paying at least $650 million in an incredibly vast settlement, which, as the New York Times notes, doesn’t just cover people who lost money: “People who suffered through the hassles of bank phone trees and credit-card customer service lines can bill Equifax $25 an hour for their time.” (If only we could all be paid $25 an hour for waiting on hold with customer service.)

"Equifax put profits over privacy and greed over people, and must be held accountable to the millions of people they put at risk," said Attorney General Letitia James, who co-led a coalition of 50 AGs across the country in the action, in a statement. "This company’s ineptitude, negligence, and lax security standards endangered the identities of half the U.S. population. Now it’s time for the company to do what’s right and not only pay restitution to the millions of victims of their data breach, but also provide every American who had their highly sensitive information accessed with the tools they need to battle identity theft in the future."

The good news for you—assuming you are not a high-level Equifax executive—is that you might qualify for a $125 cash payment or more if you are a class member. Considering that hundreds of millions of consumers were affected, there’s at least a reasonable chance you’re among them. It’s worth a try.

Hey! Go get your $125. It’s a scam that Equifax is getting away with paying so little as a settlement, but you might as well go get yours. https://t.co/QW7lBNW762— Anil Dash 🥭 (@anildash) July 26, 2019

Though not yet finalized, the settlement agreement received preliminary approval this week. According to the Federal Trade Commission, some people affected by the hack could be eligible for as much as $20,000 for losses or expenses stemming from the breach. Here’s a helpful guide to the various forms of compensation. And, once again, here is the site where you can check if you’re eligible; there's also an FTC site to file a claim.


















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