Equifax data breach settlement

[Dtail]

Signed up yesterday for DGF, DF and I. Easy money I suppose.

[harllee]

Shortly after the Equifax breach someone who had my SS number, address, etc got my Social Security deposit rerouted to their bank account. I spent about 6 months of time to get my SS payments beck (finally got it straightened out by contacting my Congressman). Working with the local SS office was AWFUL. I spent tons of time (and some money for travel, etc) straightening it out. I have many documents I can upload on the website. I am going for the full max $20,000. Doubtful I can get that much since after 6 months I finally got my back SS payments but I am going for what I can get. The Equifax breach put me through the wringer, I still have some PTSD from it.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail Signed up yesterday for DGF, DF and I. Easy money I suppose.

Except that the "up to $125" will probably be a lot less. The settlement caps damages so if a lot of people apply, we may be lucky to see $10.

[DeborahB]

It’s the most confusing form, intentionally, I think. The amount o& time necessary to document the breach I was not aware of... it wouldn’t pay me to send them anything. But I signed up, because they said I was affected. I’ll be surprised if I get anything from them. Very sorry for anyone who suffered serious losses!

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Except that the "up to $125" will probably be a lot less. The settlement caps damages so if a lot of people apply, we may be lucky to see $10.

I just took another look, as all I recall seeing was "$125", not anything about "up to $125", or any other caveats. Well, look at this wording ( a direct copy/paste, no emph/caps added/deleted):

https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/case...ach-settlement

"Up to 10 years of free credit monitoring OR $125 if you decide not to enroll because you already have credit monitoring. The free credit monitoring includes:"

So I saw "OR $125", not "OR up to $125". One could argue that the "up to" refers only to years of free credit monitoring. They hire professionals to write this stuff, there are millions of dollars involved, they should add those two words to make it unquestionably clear. I think this is another case where the English language is vague, or at least most people's understanding of the English language would render this vague.

If the $125 ends up being much less, they will have another PR issue on their hands. I guess they will never learn. But I really have no practical choice in not doing business with them, do I?

-ERD50

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalaxyBoy I find it interesting that if you happen to be spending the year on a desert island and don't file for the money or the credit monitoring (or choose to opt out), you give up all rights to sue in the future and you get nothing. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/26/us/eq...rnd/index.html Perhaps this is standard operating procedure? I suppose that otherwise people would be coming out of the woodwork for decades to come.

You can opt out of the class action and bring suit on your own. I don't think many people will be doing that.

Also, you can't "come out of woodwork for decades"...there are statutes of limitations to keep that from happening.

[MichaelB]

The FTC has a blog post this morning, here. This is of interest for two reasons.

First, the FTC acknowledges the possibility the $125 per person may be paid out at a much lower rate and recommends the credit monitoring option.

Second, it confirms people who chose the $125 still have the option to change and select the credit monitoring.

Quote:

For those who have already submitted claims for this cash payment, look for an email from the settlement administrator. They’ll be asking you for the name of the credit monitoring service you already have. Or, if you want to change your mind, you’ll have a chance to switch to the free credit monitoring.

[Gumby]

It is entirely logical that the settlement fund would be capped. What rational company would agree to a settlement with an open ended payment? On the other hand, I was sort of hoping that Equifax would be driven out of business.

[RunningBum]

There is a cap though. 147 million people. It doesn't look like you can file if they say you weren't affected.

[ERD50]

And the text in the on-line application was "Up to 10 years of free credit monitoring OR $125 if you decide not to enroll because you already have credit monitoring. The free credit monitoring includes:"

So if we switch to credit monitoring, will there be an announcement "due to the large number of applicants for credit monitoring, we have had to reduce the up to 10 year period to 7.6 days. We hope this isn't an inconvenience for you, it wasn't for us".



-ERD50

[Cobra9777]

MichaelB, thanks for the update.

So here's a SWAG:

147M people affected
70% never claim any part of the settlement
That leaves 44M people who claim
Half of them take the monitoring
That leaves 22M taking the cash
$31M / 22M people = $1.41 per person

Evidently, the $125 figure is based on 248K people taking the cash ($31M/$125), which is 0.17% of the 147M affected. Maybe my 15% (above) is a bit high but... 0.17%??

Perhaps the poor wording pointed out by ERD50 was intentional to get people to take the cash, which would limit the larger ongoing cost of monitoring.

I already claimed the cash, thinking it was a fixed $125 for each of us. But if 147M people all claimed the $125, it would be $18.4B, which is obviously a different universe compared to $31M. Pretty sure I'll change to monitoring when the time comes.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobra9777 MichaelB, thanks for the update. So here's a SWAG: 147M people affected 70% never claim any part of the settlement That leaves 44M people who claim Half of them take the monitoring That leaves 22M taking the cash $31M / 22M people = $1.41 per person Evidently, the $125 figure is based on 248K people taking the cash ($31M/$125), which is 0.17% of the 147M affected. Maybe my 15% (above) is a bit high but... 0.17%?? Perhaps the poor wording pointed out by ERD50 was intentional to get people to take the cash, which would limit the larger ongoing cost of monitoring. I already claimed the cash, thinking it was a fixed $125 for each of us. But if 147M people all claimed the $125, it would be $18.4B, which is obviously a different universe compared to $31M. Pretty sure I'll change to monitoring when the time comes.

My guess is your math is a reasonable look at what might happen.


The wording of the agreement (linked earlier in the thread) may be a subtle effort to push consumers into taking the award. There is no cap on the 4 years of credit monitoring, it is to be administered by a third party, and Equifax receives no compensation for the monitoring.

[cbo111]

I already claimed the $125 option. Has anyone gone back and changed to the credit monitoring option? If so, how did you do that?

[MichaelB]

The FTC updated the settlement page as well. It dropped the $125 option completely, and in the FAQ (here) says

Quote:

5. I thought I could choose $125 instead of free credit monitoring. What happened? The public response to the settlement has been overwhelming. Millions of people have visited this site in just the first week. Because the total amount available for these alternative payments is $31 million, each person who takes the money option is going to get a very small amount. Nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn’t been such an enormous number of claims filed. The free credit monitoring provides a much better value, and everyone whose information was exposed can take advantage of it. If your information was exposed in the data breach, and you file a valid claim before the deadline, you are guaranteed at least four years of free monitoring at all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and $1,000,000 of identity theft insurance, among other benefits. The market value of this product is hundreds of dollars per year. You can still choose the cash option on the claim form, but you will be disappointed with the amount you receive and you won’t get the free credit monitoring.

FAQ 6 addresses how to change the option if already filed

Quote:

6. I want to change my claim to get free credit monitoring instead of a cash payment. Can I do that? Yes. The settlement administrator will be sending an email to people who already submitted a claim for the alternative cash payment. In that email, you will have the option to: 1) provide additional information OR 2) switch to free credit monitoring. We will update this page with more information after the email goes out. You also can send an email to info@EquifaxBreachSettlement.com to make a change to your claim.

[Cobra9777]

Wow. Not surprising. Word about free money travels fast nowadays.

Funny thing is... sticking with the cash settlement might still be worth something if everyone reacts to this announcement as expected. Obviously no one is going to sign up for the cash going forward. And a large chunk of the "millions of people" who already claimed cash are now going to change to monitoring. Maybe "most" of them. So the cash settlement per person is going to increase from wherever it is now, probably sub-$10. I doubt it will get back to $125, but who knows, maybe $50.

I'll still likely change to monitoring. A million of identity theft insurance might have some value.

[cbo111]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB The FTC updated the settlement page as well. It dropped the $125 option completely, and in the FAQ (here) says FAQ 6 addresses how to change the option if already filed

That last paragraph was hilarious. “If you want to change from cash settlement to monitoring, you can send them a email at blahblah.com.” I’m trying to picture the large staff of Equifax admins who are standing by to answer, what, 20 million emails from people asking to make the change!

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbo111 That last paragraph was hilarious. “If you want to change from cash settlement to monitoring, you can send them a email at blahblah.com.” I’m trying to picture the large staff of Equifax admins who are standing by to answer, what, 20 million emails from people asking to make the change!

"Could you please change me over to monitoring if the cash settlement is going to be under $50, otherwise please keep me in the cash program. kthxbye."

[LRDave]

I think we get bumpkis.......

[COHgirl]

I got married after the breach. I ran the tool with my married name and it says I wasn’t affected. I ran it with my maiden name and it says I was affected. I filled out the form with my maiden name but signed it with my married name. Wonder if that will screw it up...

[omni550]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but according to this article it doesn't look like anyone will be getting close to $125 if they choose the cash settlement option.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/pe...ch/1900747001/

omni