Equifax Security Breach

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In case any on here were impacted by the Equifax security breach (as I was), there may be some reprieve available.

If you go to this site, you can see if you are part of the settlement, and if so can be:

Reimbursed $125, or receive free credit monitoring services

Claim up to 10 hours of time spent resolving the fraudulent activity at a rate of $25/hr (without submitting backup docs), or more (upto 20 hours I believe) with back up docs.

In my case, Ive spent far far far more than 20 hours resolving all of the issues, but at least this is something.

At the site below, you can simply enter your name and last 6 of SS and youll instantly be informed if you are part of the settlement.

https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/

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Put in a claim for 10 hours yesterday.

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Good @trism! At least youll get something (hopefully) out of the mess. Mine has been semi-miserable…for a long period of time I was getting new accounts opened in my name at a rate of 1-2 a week. Ill bet I have spent 100 hrs resolving all of the issues :frowning:

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Definitely provide extra documentation of this and claim as much time as you reasonably can. Whatever payout you get won’t be worth having to have dealt with that hassle though :frowning:

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Generally if you file a claim in a class action you are giving up your rights to sue individually.

With that much actual damage I’d consult with a consumer attorney before waiving future rights.

On another note, I’ve read that the stolen data has never been found for sale. So…

How do you know that the breach is the cause of your issues, and could you prove it? (Not arguing, just backtracking on my thought process)

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Fortunately…the only damage has been my time (and frustration). The breach has not caused me to lose any $ fortunately.

Going forward, a complete credit freeze at all 3 agencies is a way of life (and honestly probably should be for everyone anyway). The catch 22 here though is of course that one of the agencies themselves was the victim of the breach.

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So you can claim up to 10 hours AND get credit monitoring?

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That s what it seems like.

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Thanks for sharing.
Definitely advise everyone to opt for the credit monitoring instead of the cash.

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You can actually claim up to 20 (with paperwork backup). 10 hours requires no paperwork it appears.

And, yes you can claim credit monitoring (or $125 as well).

https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/faq

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Yes…if you elect the $125, you have to confirm you have monitoring through another source.

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Anyone knows more about this, please chime in. If I keep my credit frozen, would that be as effective as having credit monitored?

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IMO, you mst freeze all 3 agencies all the time and only open them when needed. Yes…this is a PITA, but it cut my issues down massively. I still get attempts at fraud, and I am notified of them with the rejection letters from the entities from which fraud was attempted (i.e. “were sorry we could not offer you this account as your credi history is not available…etc”)

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In my experience, the monitoring (although I have it) was not of much help (either before or after the issues). Once the info is “out there”…you cant get it back. Its the old horse is out of the barn analogy.

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Disagree. Get a free Kredit Karma account (ignore the skores) and the free Experian app.

That’ll cover all three bureaus for $0 OOP, and you’ll have $125 to spend on Tic-Tacs or rhinoplasty… whatever you like.

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I froze all four. Yeah, I found out there are actually 4 agencies. Plus, the only positive thing that came from Congress last two years is the free credit freeze/unfreeze for unlimited amount of time legislature.

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Yes…I was paying 30 bucks everytime for the freeze/unfreeze before :frowning:

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Is the 4th you mention Chexsystems?

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Innovis 1010

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