Equifax Violation: See if you are eligible, how to file a lawsuit, and how much you receive

If you were one of the 147 million people whose data was revealed in 201

7 in the grave Equifax Data Protection Infringement you can now file a lawsuit and file a lawsuit to recover the money you've issued or lost as a result of the hack. The Federal Trade Commission said this week that Equifax has agreed to pay at least $ 575 million and up to $ 700 million to compensate victims of hackers who collect personal information from Equifax servers stolen. Settlement payments may cover the costs of recovering from a security breach by the company with free credit reporting, including the recovery of theft of your identity, and unauthorized charges on your account. You can also apply to cover the cost of identity theft protection following the Equifax violation.

And even if you did not participate in the infringement and can not claim, you can apply for free credits for seven years.

The violation resulted in hackers stealing social security numbers, addresses, credit cards and loans, driving license information, birth dates and other personal information stored on Equifax's servers. As part of its investigation, the FTC claimed that the Free Credit Bureau had not taken adequate steps to secure its network. Participation in the Equifax agreement is not easy.

To begin, you can verify that you and your information were disclosed as part of the security breach. Then, when it was you, you collect documents related to the hack that show your expenses and losses. And finally, you submit your claim for damages. You must submit an application by 22 January 2020.

The exact amount that Equifax pays out is indefinite. The proposed agreement will begin with a USD 300 million fund to compensate the affected consumers who have purchased credit monitoring services. Equifax will also pay $ 175 million to federal states and districts – and $ 100 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (BFS), which will impose civil sanctions.

If the initial infusion of $ 300 million fails to adequately compensate consumers, the FTC has agreed that Equifax will invest another $ 125 million in the fund for a potential total payment of $ 700 million. If you are a beneficiary, your share of billing may include free credit monitoring and identity theft prevention services. You may also be eligible for cash payments to cover the costs of violations (such as attorney's fees and credit monitoring). You can help free for identity theft and free credit reports for 10 years.

How to participate in the billing.

Find out if you were affected by the security breach.

If you want to verify that your information has been disclosed, the FTC and the Official Clearing House have an online tool that you can use Use this option to check if you have been involved in the Equifax breach.

You must enter your last name and the last six digits of your social security number to see if your data was part of the hacking.

Preparing and Submitting Your Claim

You can now file a claim on the Equifax Data Breach Settlement website to recover the money you lost or spent due to the large hack. So prepare yourself for a claim and submit it.

• In order to claim, you must collect all documents and evidence that you have in connection with the violation, for example, to report expenses that you should have incurred following an identity theft. Loss of money due to the breach.
• To track the comparison, the FTC suggests logging in to receive email updates.
• You can also check the FTC's Equifax Data Breach Settlement page and the official Data Breach Settlement page for updates.
• And the FTC has a number that you can call – (833) 759-2982 – for updates.
• You can file an online claim on the official billing page.
• You can also follow the instructions below As part of the application process, select which services to use and review what documents you need to submit to support your application. Supporting documents include information about unauthorized charges, the cost of freezing your account, fees paid to professionals to help with theft, and other associated costs.

What the Settlement Payments Can Cover

The proposed agreement provides for $ 20,000 of disbursements per person to cover the expenses you have incurred to remedy the breach. Here are the costs and expenses that you can possibly reimburse.

• Costs related to unauthorized charges on your accounts
• Costs for freezing a credit report and credit monitoring
• Fees for accountants, lawyers and other professionals
• Cost of postage, mileage, notary and other services [19659025] Costs of Equifax credit monitoring and other services for one year prior to the breach.

Equifax will also serve all US consumers by 2020, whether or not part of the billing, with six additional free credit reports per year for seven years from its website.

When do I have to file a complaint?

The FTC has indicated that you must submit your complaint by January 22, 2020. The FTC is January 23, 2020, as soon as you receive the eligible benefits.

This is the information we know now, with many details to come. We will update this story as soon as we learn more.