USA citizens (possibly others) - Get $125 to $375 USD from Equifax (if eligible).

[JimmyJ]

Takes a minute to find out if eligible:

 

https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility

[GinBoy2]

Thanks for the link. $125 check is in the mail!

 

Easiest $125 I've ever got

Edited July 27, 2019 by GinBoy2

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This settlement is in the news as well:

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/26/us/equifax-breach-settlement-questions-answered-trnd/index.html

 

 

Quote

 

On Monday, Equifax settled with the US Federal Trade Commission over its 2017 data breach, which affected 147 million Americans.

The settlement of up to $700 million includes as much as $425 million for individual compensation. With so many Americans affected, it's very likely you could qualify for some form of compensation as a result of the settlement.

And with so many names, addresses, birthdates and Social Security numbers leaked, you could still be at long-term risk for identity theft.

 

 

 

But it would seem, folks checks won't quite be in the mail yet... Perhaps post-Christmas...

 

Quote

You can choose to receive the payment at home as a check or as a debit card after final approval from the court, which is set for December 19.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, JimmyJ said:

https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility

 

Thanks Jimmy... Very thoughtful of you to post on this here, and hopefully alert others...

 

Somehow, I hadn't caught wind of the news of this earlier in the week... But in searching now, there's certainly lots of news reports out there about the settlement.

 

FWIW, for everyone else here, after reading all the options, I opted for the up to 10 years of free credit monitoring and passed on the $125 payment.  Considering how much data was leaked including people's SSN's and such, I think a decade of credit monitoring and hopefully preventing or limiting any attempted future misdeeds is probably more valuable to me than $125 cash right now.

 

[JimmyJ]

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Thanks Jimmy... Very thoughtful of you to post on this here, and hopefully alert others...

 

Somehow, I hadn't caught wind of the news of this earlier in the week... But in searching now, there's certainly lots of news reports out there about the settlement.

 

FWIW, for everyone else here, after reading all the options, I opted for the up to 10 years of free credit monitoring and passed on the $125 payment.  Considering how much data was leaked including people's SSN's and such, I think a decade of credit monitoring and hopefully preventing or limiting any attempted future misdeeds is probably more valuable to me than $125 cash right now.

 

 

A financial website I read mentioned it but I forgot to act on it.

Was reminded earlier today by @AOC who agrees with you:

 

"Okay everyone UPDATE on Equifax: for most people the better deal is 10 years of free credit monitoring. There’s apparently a run on settlements so there’s anxiety people are going to get 16 cent checks. But if you choose 10 years of credit monitoring, Equifax *must* cover it."

Edited July 27, 2019 by JimmyJ

[JimmyJ]

I have 2 credit cards which give me free FICO scores and monitor it, and at least 2 cc or bank accounts which give me a (non-FICO) credit score by monitoring Equifax.

So even though I'll be dropping some of these next year due to annual fees, I'll still have at least one if not more.

 

The problem with the cash settlement (which I'll probably take) is that the payout goes down depending on how many respond.

 

They also pay $25/hour for time one spent dealing with the data breach.

 

But as AOC writes, it could end up being a 16 cent check.

 

For people who don't already have a cc or bank account which gives free credit monitoring (which are becoming fairly common) the 10 year monitoring is a good deal I suppose.

Edited July 27, 2019 by JimmyJ

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

For people who don't already have a cc or bank account which gives free credit monitoring (which are becoming fairly common) the 10 year monitoring is a good deal I suppose.

 

AFAIK, though, credit monitoring is different than FICO score reporting... The credit monitoring supposedly notified you in more or less real time if someone has tried to open a new account or take out some new thing in your name. But in my experience, the credit score monitoring is much more delayed and not really geared at specific actions.

 

For example, I have FICO score monitoring thru a couple of my credit cards as well... And in the past, I've gone and opened a new credit card, and that did not trigger any direct notification to me from any of the FICO score monitors... But like once a month, I get an email saying my score has gone up or down a couple of points. That's not really helpful in the fraud context. Maybe other score monitors operate differently.

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[JimmyJ]

9 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

AFAIK, though, credit monitoring is different than FICO score reporting... The credit monitoring supposedly notified you in more or less real time if someone has tried to open a new account or take out some new thing in your name. But in my experience, the credit score monitoring is much more delayed and not really geared at specific actions.

I opened several credit cards recently, and would get an email notification when there was a hard pull on my account.

 

It's also free now to freeze/unfreeze one's credit reports at the 3 main bureaus.

Freezing one's report will make it impossible (or at least very difficult) for someone to open a new credit card account using one's identity.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by JimmyJ

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

 

It's also free now to freeze/unfreeze one's credit reports at the 3 main bureaus.

Freezing one's report will make it difficult to impossible for someone to open a new credit card account.

 

I haven't tried to freeze them lately. But last time I did try it, it was a very difficult process to complete. How's the process of doing that now?

 

[JimmyJ]

Just now, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I haven't tried to freeze them lately. But last time I did try it, it was a very difficult process to complete. How's the process of doing that now?

 

I haven't done so for a long time. I read that it is free now in a forum discussion on the "Take the payment or take the Credit Monitoring" issue. Didn't read that it's difficult but it may be.

 

Someone also made the point that the company that had the data breach is the same one that will be protecting one's credit info by monitoring.

[JimmyJ]

15 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

AFAIK, though, credit monitoring is different than FICO score reporting... The credit monitoring supposedly notified you in more or less real time if someone has tried to open a new account or take out some new thing in your name. But in my experience, the credit score monitoring is much more delayed and not really geared at specific actions.

 

For example, I have FICO score monitoring thru a couple of my credit cards as well... And in the past, I've gone and opened a new credit card, and that did not trigger any direct notification to me from any of the FICO score monitors... But like once a month, I get an email saying my score has gone up or down a couple of points. That's not really helpful in the fraud context. Maybe other score monitors operate differently.

 

You make a good point and I'm wondering now if the emails I got about getting a hard pull were because it was time for my report so it seemed to be real time monitoring.

 

I'm going to read up on the 4 places where I get the scores and see if they claim real time monitoring.

Will post the result here when I get around to doing the research.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

Someone also made the point that the company that had the data breach is the same one that will be protecting one's credit info by monitoring.

 

Of course that's true!

 

Perhaps, in addition to free credit monitoring, they also ought to be offering free DATA LEAK monitoring... So the next time they (or the others) spill out our SSN and other personal data onto the black market, at least we'd be told about it!

 

[Pib]

For you guys being offered a settlement option like cash or credit monitoring I guess that means when you entered your last name and last 6 digits of you SSN that the results said you were impacted by the data breach?

When entering my name and last 6 it says I wasn't impacted. Ditto when checking the wife's name and last 6.

[JimmyJ]

2 minutes ago, Pib said:

For you guys being offered a settlement option like cash or credit monitoring I guess that means when you entered your last name and last 6 digits of you SSN that the results said you were impacted by the data breach?

 

 

 

Yes.

 

This is that rare time when you might briefly think "Darn - No one stole my personal info!"

Edited July 28, 2019 by JimmyJ

[Pib]

What is the results wording when impacted. Just curious as to how it reads.

[JimmyJ]

4 minutes ago, Pib said:

What is the results wording when impacted. Just curious as to how it reads.

 

"Thank You

Based on the information you provided, our records indicate your personal information was impacted by this incident.

 

For more information, visit the FAQ page."

[Gumballl]

34 minutes ago, Pib said:

For you guys being offered a settlement option like cash or credit monitoring I guess that means when you entered your last name and last 6 digits of you SSN that the results said you were impacted by the data breach?

When entering my name and last 6 it says I wasn't impacted. Ditto when checking the wife's name and last 6.
 

I was impacted, but I have not yet suffered any financial harm. Thus I signed up for the 10 year free credit monitoring service (monitors all 3 credit reporting bureaus). On expiry, Equifax will provide an additional 6 months monitoring of themselves.

 

P.S. Thanks for the 'tip' on checking up on my wife's status.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

There are class action lawsuits against British Airways and Starwood/Marriott I've recently joined although not expecting much if any compensation.  Also contacted a firm regarding the Cathay Pacific breach but they haven't decided if they will pursue it.  Seems the Cathay breach was particularly egregious in that they waited so long to inform those affected.  Perhaps EU residents might have recourse against them based on GDPR.

[Pib]

 

Here is the response given if you are not impacted.

 

Quote

 

Thank You

Based on the information you provided, our records indicate that your personal information was not impacted by this incident. Equifax has worked hard to make the “Am I Impacted” tool as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

If you have any questions about this response or need more information, please contact the Settlement Administrator or visit the FAQs page.

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

They wanted me to submit 6 of my 9 digits for my SS## -- sounds like it would be easy to hack the last 3 digits... not a good risk at 16 cents.. 

 

but thanks for the link... 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, kenk24 said:

They wanted me to submit 6 of my 9 digits for my SS## -- sounds like it would be easy to hack the last 3 digits... not a good risk at 16 cents.. 

 

but thanks for the link... 

 

It's a legitimate website, the same site mentioned and included in the CNN news report on the settlement. And it's a pretty standard way of handling class action settlement claims where the whole process is delegated to a private settlement claims administrator.

 

You're worried about someone hacking your SSN by you entering 6 of its digits? You do realize, the whole reason for the settlement is Equifax leaked +-140 million Americans full Social Security numbers and all kinds of other personal data out onto the black market.

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[1FinickyOne]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Equifax leaked +-140 million Americans full Social Security numbers

yes. that's what worries me...

[Pib]

With all the known/publicized leaks and the unknown/un-publicized leaks over the years, I figure most every American's personal data has fell into some bad guy's hands.....but whether the bad guy will or can effectively ever use it is another subject.

 

Regarding the free credit monitoring for 10 years if it's similar to the credit monitoring offered to many former US govt employees due to an OPM data breach of approx 21 million people around 5 years ago then the monitoring is better than the freebie-type monitoring/reports you get from many of your banks or other places.  It can run traces on your social security number (and your children) to see what names and aliases they can find associated with those SSNs.  It can also provide the monitoring of such things as your phone number(s), payday loans, bank accts, drivers license, passport, medical IDs, etc., to see if this info is being used by others.   I know because I get the free credit monitoring due to the OPM breach.

 

Now regarding this Equifax breach if I was impacted (which I wasn't) I would go with the 10 years free credit monitoring because that monitoring will probably be better/more thorough than the freebie-type monitoring offered by banks and others.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pib]

And here we go again with another massive data breach related to Capital One.  For me I have a couple of CapOne bank accounts and credit cards.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/29/20746493/massive-capital-one-breach-exposes-personal-info-of-100-million-americans

Quote

Banking institution Capital One has just revealed that it’s suffered a data breach that exposed the names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, dates of birth, and self-reported incomes of approximately 100 million Americans, and 6 million in Canada, due to a “configuration vulnerability” in the servers of an unnamed cloud computing company hosting the bank’s data.

 

[JimmyJ]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

And here we go again with another massive data breach related to Capital One.  For me I have a couple of CapOne bank accounts and credit cards.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/29/20746493/massive-capital-one-breach-exposes-personal-info-of-100-million-americans

 

As Antonopoulus said: "There are 2 kinds of crypto exchanges.

Those that have been hacked, and those that will be hacked."

 

Goes for every website with a large database of customer personal info.

Edited July 30, 2019 by JimmyJ

[Issanman]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sorry-youre-not-getting-125-from-the-equifax-settlement-ftc-says-2019-07-31?mod=MW_home_top_stories

[JimmyJ]

On 7/27/2019 at 9:44 PM, JimmyJ said:

You make a good point and I'm wondering now if the emails I got about getting a hard pull were because it was time for my report so it seemed to be real time monitoring.

 

I'm going to read up on the 4 places where I get the scores and see if they claim real time monitoring.

Will post the result here when I get around to doing the research.

 

"I'm going to read up on the 4 places where I get the scores and see if they claim real time monitoring.

Will post the result here when I get around to doing the research."

 

I've been meaning to follow up on this and kept putting it off...

 

Turns out that there is free real time credit monitoring from Capital One and Chase and it is not necessary to even have an account.

They don't give FICO score but a variant of it based on Equifax. I've almost always found it within a few points of my FICO.

Chase does weekly score updates while most of the others are monthly (unless there's a change in which case as mentioned some of them will send an email).

 

I applied for 4 credit cards during about a 6 week period which dropped my credit score.

Got 3 notices in 2 days from one of the Credit score places - each time my score changed (dropped in this case).

 

Discover also does a free credit score/monitoring without requiring an account.

 

More info on this subject can be found online.

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by JimmyJ

[gk10002000]

On 7/28/2019 at 5:55 AM, kenk24 said:

They wanted me to submit 6 of my 9 digits for my SS## -- sounds like it would be easy to hack the last 3 digits... not a good risk at 16 cents.. 

 

but thanks for the link... 

It is very easy, almost trivial because anybody that got social security numbers in the past, the system assigned the first three digits to your state of birth!  Military payroll people pointed that out to me one day and they could guess the state and I think city also.  Now in later y ears to to the ease of identity theft, I am told SSA numbers are now randomly generated

[gk10002000]

I just filled out the online thing.  I skipped the cost, credit monitoring options, time spent correcting things etc.  If you checked any of those boxes you have to provide details and documentation of activities and costs.  I guess if one's card was used you had to spend time talking with agents, getting a new card, etc. It is not clear that I will get anything.  I saved a copy of the submitted claim form "receipt".  The FAQ's do not clearly say I will get a default $125.  If it does, I don't see it in the words.  My initial reading is I won't get anything.  Time will tell

 

" Checks or pre-paid cards for valid claims for Out-of-Pocket Losses, Time Spent, and Alternative Reimbursement Compensation will be mailed by the Settlement Administrator to the mailing address that you provide. "

Edited August 26, 2019 by gk10002000
add

[meand]

Gee, I wonder who got the best of that court battle. Especially considering most seem to be going for the more services from cc companies option.