Equifax Security Incident

Editors' Pick Money Personal Finance I Got A Measly $14.90 From Equifaxs Data Breach Settlement By Shahar Ziv , Contributor. Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Shahar Ziv teaches students & employees to ace their personal finances Follow Author Feb 22, 2023, 08:45am EST Feb 22, 2023, 02:35pm EST Share Save Comment This article is more than 2 years old. Close-up of the hand of a man holding a mobile phone open to the web site of credit bureau Equifax, with text on the website reading "Equifax Cybersecurity Incident", providing steps for consumers to take following a security breach at the company, San Ramon, California, September 28, 2017. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) Getty Images Americans likely cant even fill up their gas tanks with the paltry payments Equifax EFX is providing for allowing hackers to easily steal Social Security numbers and other personal identifiable information. The payments are part of the companys settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over a 2017 data breach that exposed the personal information of 147 million Americans. Equifax Data Breach Settlement Summary In 2019, people affected by the breach were able to file claims for compensation. Those who suffered direct losses due to the breach and were able to provide documentation of out-of-pocket costs were eligible for up to $20,000 . Those who didnt suffer a direct loss were still eligible for some relief, including a one-time cash payment of up to $125 and additional compensation for time 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. Payments for eligible claims were sent starting this past December. I received an envelope with a check for $14.90; a far cry from the $125 one-time cash payment that had been touted by the FTC after the settlement. Perhaps I should consider myself lucky as others claimed...

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