A while back, Equifax – the credit rating agency that was victimized by a data breach in 2017 – announced that everyone affected could get $125 as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. Let’s hope you didn’t spend that money, because last week, the FTC announced that, due to an overwhelming response, cash payments aren’t going to be anywhere near $125 each.
About 147 million people were affected by the Equifax breach, but only $31 million was set aside for payments as part of the $700 million settlement. For everyone to have gotten $125 from that pot, there would have to be only 248,000 claimants. While the FTC didn’t give a number, they said there were already “an enormous number of claims filed.”
The FTC is now recommending that you instead take four years of free credit monitoring and identity protection. This is available not only from Equifax but from its two fellow major credit bureaus, Experian and TransUnion.
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