The Facts About the Equifax Settlement

If you believe your data was exposed by the Equifax data breach in 2017, here’s what you need to know about a recently-announced settlement:

Get up to $125 if your data was exposed. First, visit EquifaxBreachSettlement.com to see if you’re eligible. If your data was exposed, one of the choices you have is to get up to $125. Be forewarned, however: The compensation could be far less than $125 due to the number of people who have already applied for or are expected to apply for this compensation. One other condition is that you must verify that you’ve signed up for a credit monitoring service and certify that you’ll be using it for at least six months.

Get compensated for more if you had to deal with fraud due to the breach. If you had your identity stolen or had to deal with other types of fraud directly related to the Equifax breach, you can get up to $25 per hour for up to 20 hours that you spent dealing with fraud. You can also get up to $25 per hour for up to 10 hours that you spent freezing and/or unfreezing your credit or purchasing credit/identity protection. You must, however, be able to provide documentation.

Get free crediting monitoring. As an alternative to the cash compensation, you can get four years of free credit monitoring that covers the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) and opt to have six more years of monitoring one credit bureau. Due to the large number of people applying for the cash alternative, it may be a better choice to take this option, although the choice is up to individual consumers. Experian currently offers a base-level credit monitoring service for $19.99 a month, so four years of credit monitoring would cost you $959.52.

For more information about the settlement, talk to a financial advisor or a professional who specializes in credit issues.

For more than 25 years, Omega Financial has been serving mortgage clients in Massachusetts. Our brokers have approximately 50 years in the mortgage business. You always will receive fast, courteous, and accurate information. Omega Financial, Inc. is a company duly licensed to operate in Massachusetts as a Mortgage Brokerage. We are located in the Town of Norwood, Massachusetts where we have been operating as Omega Financial Incorporated since 1988.

Licensed by the Commissioner of Banks - License No. MB2671

All content copyright Left Field Media. Not for reproduction, republishing or reposting.