I hope you didn’t have plans for the $125 you may be entitled to as part of the Equifax $700 million dollar settlement. As of today, the court has not even approved the Equifax settlement related to their September 2017 data breach that exposed sensitive personal data on approximately 147 million consumers and already their settlement is causing confusion.
According to the FTC , consumers are flocking to Equifax in droves to claim their free “up to $125” which is to be set aside as an option for consumers to take in lieu of free credit monitoring. So what’s the catch and how much will you actually get? Let’s do some math; this portion of the settlement will contain approximately $31 million dollars. If all 147 million consumers affected choose to take this cash offer, each consumer would get:
$31,000,000 ÷ 147,000,000 = $0.21 (far less than $125)
Before acting, understand what is available and what future rights you may be giving away. Equifax provides a good deal of information related to consumer’s options on their website. As with anything, read all of the information.
I will update this settlement once the court approves it.
If your credit needs some help, take action. There are a lot of resources available on steps to improve your credit. You can get free information from the FTC or contact a professional company like Cure My Score for help. By taking action to improve your credit, you may qualify for the home of your dreams or a new auto while paying less in interest charges.
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Credit Reporting / Scoring Expert, Chris McConville is the President of Credit Education at CureMyScore.com and founder of myexpertcreditwitness.com where he works as an Expert Credit Witness in both Federal and State Court. With working in the credit and mortgage fields since 1991, he’s dedicated to sharing his knowledge to educate consumers.
