It was on the 22nd of January 2020 when the period for filing the initial claims in the Equifax breach settlement came to end. Those who filed a claim now had to wait for the benefits to arrive. But, new appeals to the settlement’s approval will hamper the benefits’ distribution.
However, everyone, including people who didn’t file their claim during the initial round must be wary of identity theft that the breach might bring about. It comes with an extended claims period that will run until year 2024.
The Equifax data breach in 2017 exposed personal information, including driver’s license and Social Security numbers in several cases, of over 147 million consumers. Equifax agreed paying hundreds of millions dollars worth to help their consumers that were affected by this data breach. Based on the court documents, over 15 million claims were submitted on the 1st of December with a few weeks left for filing claims.
When Can You Expect to Receive Your Benefits?
JND Legal Administration, a settlement administrator, has reviewed and validated the claims. A settlement administrator is a neutral party that ensures that the settlement that has been approved by the court is followed as is.
The website for the Equifax breach settlement will get updates regarding the developments. Your claim number can be entered on the site to check your claim’s status.
How Will You Receive Your Benefits?
- If you asked for credit monitoring
You will receive an email with instructions and an activation code. Be careful of scammers and type the URLs of the websites yourself instead of clicking on a link.
- If you requested money
In case you asked for compensation worth $125 or reimbursement for the time spent to recover from identity theft or fraud, a debit card or check will be sent to via mail to the specific address that you used during the submission of your claim.
Brace yourself to receive compensation that is lower than what you asked for. The settlement allotted $31 million for this kind of claim. If the valid claim’s volume goes beyond this, the value that every person receives will be cut down proportionally. The specific number of the claims filed indicates that it is likely for benefits to be lower than the maximum offered.
What are the Accessible Benefits for You at the Moment?
Anyone that the breach has impacted can access Experian’s identity restoration services if they become a victim of identity theft in the coming 7 years. All you have to do is visit the settlement website then click on the “Find out if your information was impacted” to know if you are eligible.
These services for identity restoration include assistance when dealing with credit bureaus, companies, and agencies. You can also use this service even when you didn’t make any claim from the settlement. You can contact the settlement administrator to get instructions on getting identity restoration services for free.
All consumers in the US, including those that the breach didn’t affect, can receive 6 additional credit reports for free from Equifax yearly for the next 7 years.