You’ve undoubtedly heard of the data breach that Equifax had back in 2017, where data from approximately 147 million Americans was exposed. Later on Equifax agreed to a $475 million settlement for people who were affected.
How to process an Equifax data breach claim for money
It’s actually quite easy – first go to the Equifax settlement eligibility site.
Then enter in your last name and the last 6 digits of your social security number. You’ll be told either you were affected or not. If it says you weren’t affected, you can try and manually submit that you should be part of the claim. If it says you were affected, you can file a claim online, and then enter in your contact information. Then you will be taken to a screen where you can choose either $125 or free credit monitoring service
I highly recommend choosing the $125. Most of us already have credit monitoring through CreditKarma or various credit cards, myself included, so I personally found no need to sign up for additional credit monitoring. You do not need to provide any documentation for this section. Sections 2 and 3 involve filing claims for time or money spent combatting the data breach. In these cases you should be prepared to submit documentation. I skipped these sections.
How much money will I get from the Equifax data breach settlement
Astute observers may notice that $475 million divided by 147 million affected members is…. not $125. Surely not every one of the 147 million affected users will file a claim, but I’m not holding my breath for a meaningful amount. Still, I’d say it’s worth doing for you and any family members whose credit you help to manage. In a few years, you may randomly get a check for a few bucks 🙂
The last day to file a claim is January 22, 2020
Good luck!
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Thanks for this info! Do you have a list of which credit cards offer credit monitoring? I’m not sure if I have one that does. Thanks!
I’d just sign up for Credit Karma