The Equifax data breach in 2017 was a big deal, but do you know if you were affected? It is estimated that over 140 million people had some personal data exposed during the massive data breach.
You need to find out if you were affected, because there is now a $700 million settlement between Equifax and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and 50 U.S. states and territories.
If you were one of the unfortunate people that were embroiled in the data breach, you are eligibile to file a claim.
How do you know if you were affected by the Equifax data breach?
Finding out is super easy – there is a website that serves as a look up tool to find out. Visit the Equifax website and type in your last name and the last 6 digits of your Social Security number.
Immediately you will see if you were part of the breach. If so, you can file a claim on the same website. We just checked our personal information and while Mr. TCC wasn’t affected, I was. I opted for the $125 payment since we have credit monitoring through Credit Karma. (There is no guarantee that the cash payment will be $125; this is an estimate only. But any free money is worth the effort in our opinion.)
Here is the information from the website:
1. Free Credit Monitoring or up to $125 Cash Payment. You can get free credit monitoring services. Or, if you already have credit monitoring services, you can request a cash payment of up to $125.
- At least 4 years of three-bureau credit monitoring, offered through Experian. You can also get up to 6 more years of free one-bureau credit monitoring through Equifax.
- If you already have credit monitoring services that will continue for at least 6 more months, you may be eligible for a cash payment of up to $125. The amount that you receive may be substantially less than $125, depending on the number of claims that are filed.
2. Other Cash Payments. You may also be eligible for the following cash payments up to $20,000 for:
- The time you spent remedying fraud, identity theft, or other misuse of your personal information caused by the data breach, or purchasing credit monitoring or freezing credit reports, up to 20 total hours at $25 per hour.
- Out-of-pocket losses resulting from the data breach.
- Up to 25% of the cost of Equifax credit or identity monitoring products you paid for in the year before the data breach announcement.
3. Free Identity Restoration Services: You are eligible for at least 7 years of free assisted identity restoration services to help you remedy the effects of identity theft and fraud.
It’s worth checking to see if you were part of the Equifax data breach by using the easy look up tool here.
