14 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 10/AHEADCURB YOUR ENTHUSIASMTHE DISAPPOINTING
EQUIFAX SETTLEMENT
The average payout will be far less than $125.
But you may be reimbursed for other costs.
THE $700 MILLION EQUIFAX
settlement is a landmark
moment for consumer data
privacy, but if you’re count-
ing on a payoff, you’ll proba-
bly be disappointed. While
we won’t know how much
victims will be paid until
after the settlement’s ap-
plication deadline—Janu-
ary 2020—early signs
haven’t been promising.
There is some good
news: If you’ve spent
time or money since Sep-
tember 2017 dealing with
the breach, you have a
few options. You can re-
quest reimbursement for
up to 20 hours spent on
reclaiming your identity,
at a rate of up to $
per hour. For other ex-
penses—accounting fees,
unauthorized account
withdrawals and the
like—customers can ask
for up to $20,000 in res-
titution. You won’t need
to prove that Equifax is
to blame for any identity
fraud you’ve dealt with
as long as it occurred after
the breach and your data
was involved. (To apply
for reimbursement, go
to http://www.equifaxbreach
settlement.com.)Caveats. Before you file for
reimbursement, consider
that, first, consumers
will generally be expectedto document their damages
and time spent dealing with
the problem—and the more
money you ask for, the more
documentation you’ll be
asked to provide. Up until
now, that’s been unprece-
dented for data breach set-tlements, says Charity
Lacey, of the Identity Theft
Resource Center. “If that’s
the trend, are we expecting
customers to document
everything they do after
they’re affected by a breach?
Every breach?” she asks.
The other caveat con-
cerns the amount of funds
available to consumers
and how that money will be
allocated. Although a total
of about $400 million has
been set aside for consumer
restitution, the actual
amounts available for dif-
ferent settlement options—
such as hour-by-hour re-imbursement, free credit
monitoring services,
and credit monitoring
re imbursement—varies
by option.
At least one pool has
already been stretched pain-
fully thin by the volume of
applicants. One week after
the settlement was an-
nounced in late July, the
Federal Trade Commission
told consumers they’d be
“disappointed” if they ex-
pected the full $125 reim-
bursement payout available
to those who have already
signed up for credit moni-
toring elsewhere.
Only $31 million was
set aside for the payment
pool, which would pay
only 248,000 people if
everyone received the
full $125. Because the re-
imbursement payments
will be paid equally to
everyone in the pool, the
actual payment will likely
be a fraction of the adver-
tised amount. More than
4.5 million people visited
the official settlement
website in the week after
the deal was announced,
the FTC said.
If you believe you’re
owed more than $20,000—
or you’re concerned that
your payoff will be di-
luted by the number of
claimants—you can opt
out of the suit by Novem-
ber 2019 and retain your
right to pursue separate
legal action.
If you don’t opt out and
you apply for any kind of
restitution—or you don’t
take any action—you’ll be
unable to sue the com-
pany for any future dam-
ages from the 2017 breach.
BRENDAN PEDERSENCongrats! (No
money for you.)Apply for a cash
credit,* or bolster
your protection.Apply for 10
years of free
credit monitoring.
Consider opting
out of class action.You’re eligible
for up to $25 per
hour spent, up to
20 hours.HOW HAVE YOU BEEN AFFECTED SO FAR?WAS YOUR DATA IN THE BREACH?
Go to http://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com.NONOYESYESDO YOU HAVE A
CREDIT MONITORING
SERVICE ALREADY?WHAT IF I LOST MORE
THAN $20,000?I TOOK A
FINANCIAL LOSS.NOTHING HAS
HAPPENED YET.I SPENT TIME CLEANING
UP SOMETHING ON
MY RECORD.With receipts, you
could get up to
$20,000 in restitution.* The settlement originally offered a payment up to $125, but the FTC has since told consumers
that due to sheer demand, the amount individuals receive will be much less.