WASHINGTON (AP) – Equifax will pay up to $700 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission and others over a 2017 data breach that exposed Social Security numbers and other private information of nearly 150 million people.
If approved by the federal district court Northern District of Georgia, the proposed settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will provide up to $425 million in monetary relief to consumers, a $100 million civil money penalty and other relief.
The bureau coordinated its investigation with the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from across the U.S.
Austin Pennington, owner of Pennington Law Firm in Dallas said once the settlement is approved you can file a claim online , and can sign up for alerts at ftc.gov/equifax to notify you when you can file a claim.
Pennington said they are also providing cash payments to compensate for your time lost remedying fraud, identity theft, or other misuse of your personal information caused by the data breach. They value your time at $25 an hour capped at 20 hours.
Pennington said he believes stricter consumer laws will come about because of this. “We need to have more stringent consumer protection laws and we need to have more defined payouts or penalties when a data breach occurs,” he said. “I think right now companies are having to stay on the cutting edge of what security measures need to be in place, what type of in house expert they need to have to prevent these things from happening and I think some of the legislative activity we are going to see in the next five years are going to reflect stronger consumer protection laws and our companies need to keep up with that,” he said.
The Federal Trade Commission also tweeted some instructions for anyone affected by the breach:
Once the claims process begins, if you were affected by the #Equifax breach, you can request:
Free credit monitoring and ID theft protection services. Up to 10 yrs of free credit monitoring OR $125 if you decide not to enroll b/c you already have credit monitoring.
— FTC (@FTC) July 22, 2019
For more information on how to get your share visit : https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/
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