Equifax Breach Compensation Deadline

Time is of the essence!

If you were impacted by the 2017 Equifax Data breach you have less than a week left to apply for compensation and reimbursements by the deadline of January 22nd, 2020. The clock is ticking so act now. Compensation options from the class action lawsuit include the following: 

1. Free credit monitoring services for 10 years. 
2. A cash payment of up to $125.00 if you already have credit monitoring services.
3. Reimbursement of  up to $500.00 ($25 per hour up to a maximum of 20 hours) for time spent trying to avoid fraud and identity theft or for time spent dealing with actual fraud or identity theft as a result of the breach.
4. Reimbursement of up to $20,000.00 if you lost or spent money to prevent or recover from identity theft caused by the data breach. **

Before moving forward with these directions, please skim the entire article or make a point of returning to the article for additional information after you check your eligibility. My recommendation is that you open this article in 2 separate tabs and use one for the links and the other to keep reading the tutorial. (Usually I have links open up in a new tab but there is a technical issue preventing me from doing that today. I will rectify this as soon as possible.)

ATTENTION WHAT IS PRIVACY LLC CLIENTS:

**If you are a victim of the Equifax breach and you paid What is Privacy LLC for privacy services during the eligibility period, you can submit your paid receipts as money spent to prevent or recover from identity theft caused by the data breach. Contact What is Privacy LLC if you need additional supporting documentation.

To determine your eligibility for compensation from the class action lawsuit:

Click here to go to the settlement website. You will be required to type in your last name and the last 6 digits of your social security number, followed by clicking on the word SUBMIT. 

1. If you are not eligible, that’s great because that means your personal data was not breached. You can exit the tutorial however, I recommend putting certain safeguards in place because even if you weren’t a victim of that breach, you may be the victim of another past or future breach. See this article.
2. If you determine you are eligible then you will get the message below and you can follow the easy instructions to file a claim online. 

If you get this message, your data was compromised and you are eligible for compensation.

If you prefer a hard copy and “snail mail” (USPS), here’s a link for a form to download and mail in with a postmark of no later than January 22nd, 2020.

Time is of the essence so file your claim immediately, especially if you need to provide additional documentation to obtain reimbursement for time, expenses or other damages. 

I hope you find yourself unscathed by the prolific Equifax breach but whether or not you were involved in that breach there are important steps you can take to safeguard yourself against repercussions from this breach and other breaches too. See the article Act Like You’re a Victim of the Equifax Breach for a few valuable tips. One of those tips may protect you against the heartache of having someone wire money directly out of your bank account in a way that you find out about it when it’s too late to get your money back. No need to take that risk, right?

Until next time,… Stay Cyber Safe.