DETROIT – Equifax is having to pay the piper after the massive data breach that affected more than 147 million people in the United States.
The company will have to pay between $575 and $700 million to settle state and federal investigations.
That means Equifax will pay at least $380.5 million into a Consumer Restitution Fund.
If you were affected by the data breach, you’re owed some money and/or some help in securing your information.
Not everyone will be getting a massive payday, though; it all depends on how you were affected and how many people file claims.
Consumers will get 10 years of free credit monitoring of your three credit reports at Experian, TransUnion and Equifax by an independent third-party service that will be determined by the court.
If you already have a monitoring service, you can receive $125.
If you spent a lot of time or money dealing with the data breach and ID theft, you could cash in even more... up to $20,000 more.
You can be reimbursed for things like the cost of freezing and unfreezing your credit report, losses from unauthorized charges on your accounts, cost of credit monitoring, fees you might have paid to a professional like an attorney or accountant and more.
If you spent a lot of time dealing with the breach, you can get $25 per hour, up to 20 hours, according to the FTC. The claims form notes that if you claim 10 hours or less of compensation, you’ll need to write out the actions you took and an estimate of the time you spent on each task. If you claim over 10 hours, you need to submit supporting documents for that.
Be aware: In most cases, you’re going to have to provide documentation to show proof of "fraud, identity theft, or other alleged misuse of your personal information fairly traceable to the data breach.”
So how do you know if you qualify for a payout in the settlement?
The official settlement website has been posted and is accepting claims.
To confirm you're eligible, enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number on the site or call the settlement administrator at 1-833-759-2982.
There are two ways to file a claim:
-File online at the settlement website
-File by mail
- You can download and print the claim form, fill it out and mail it with your supporting documentation.
- You can also request a claim form be mailed to you. Call 1-833-759-2982 or email: info@EquifaxBreachSettlement.com.
The deadline to file a claim is Jan. 22, 2020. If you want to be excluded from the settlement, you need to send a written request postmarked no later than Nov. 19.
After January, it will take a few months to receive any money.