Technology can suck sometimes

Technology is usually a great thing.  It allows people to be able to connect with one another, makes transactions instantaneous, and generally allows life to be much easier than before.

Unfortunately, with technology comes people trying to take advantage of others.

Yes, there will always be the emails from Nigerian royalty about needing help in the collection of $1 million.  However, growing technology, means that your vital information (credit cards and social security numbers) are out there for anyone to take.

When in Florida, I had a couple of incidents of identity left.  I remember getting the call from Chase about someone opening up a credit card in my name from Foot Locker and buying 4 pairs of shoes.  Luckily, everything was able to get resolved.  It also taught me a valuable lesson about how to do a credit freeze.

The Equifax Settlement

In September 2017, Equifax, one of the major credit bureaus had a data breach that affected 143 million Americans.  Hackers stole vital information such as Social Security numbes, birth dates, and addresses.  Some driver’s license and credit card numbers were stolen as well.

Just this month, Equifax settled a class-action lawsuit to compensate those that were effected by the data breach.   They are providing $425 million to compensate victims.

Now you may have seen many sites that tell you how to claim your $125.  There is even a story about how it is a moral obligation to file a claim. However,

There is very little chance that you will receive $125

As part of the settlement, Equifax capped the amount availble for the $125 claim at $31 million.  That means that if more than 248,000 people file a claim, the $125 will be pro-rated.  If all the people who were affected filed a claim, every person would receive 17 cents.

How to Claim your Equifax Settlement

First of all there are scammers around so make sure you go to the legitimate site to file your claim.  Here is the link to the official Federal Trade Commission website about the Equifax settlement.

You have a couple of options when filing you claim.

Option #1: 4 years of credit monitoring for all agenices (plus an extra 6 with Equifax)

This seems like a pretty good deal. Equifax usually charges a monthly fee for credit monitoring so, in a way, this is free money.

Option #2: claim a cash disbursement

This is a bit less clear because the final cash settlement is based on the amount of people who file a cash claim.  It could be $125 or 17 cents.  Or probably somewhere in between.

Money is also available for those who were specifically harmed by the breach (including the time spent to solve the problems)

Bottom Line

You should file some sort of claim, unless you are going to take Equifax to court.  Not doing anything basically means you lose out.

If you are a ‘set-it-and-forget it’ type of person, then you should probably opt for the credit monitoring.  That way you have piece of mind, nothing will come up that might surprise you.

If you are a bit more hands on with your finances, it might make sense to opt for the cash and try your luck.  You could then use a free monitoring company.  We like Credit Sesame because in addition to notifying you of account openings, they give users $50K in insurance in case of fraud and it is free to sign up.

Also remember that you can get a full credit report for free every year.  (Thank you Fair Credit Reporting Act)

Have you claimed yet? Which option did you choose?