Re: Equifax Settlement

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

 > From: Flora <http://www..family/~flora>
 > Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2019 21:19:54 -0400
 >
 > The main takeaway is to find out if you were a victim and to file a claim
 > as soon as possible.

Ah.  According to https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility,
it says that I'm eligible.

Yet another thing to add to my already too long todo list...

 > On Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 7:54 PM Scamicide <http://www.wordpress.com/~donotreply> wrote:
 > > Steven Weisman, Esq. posted: "There has been a lot of reporting in the
 > > media about the major Equifax settlement of claims brought by the Federal
 > > Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and
 > > all but two of the states' Attorneys General related to the avoi"
 > >
 > > New post on *Scamicide*
 > > Truth About the Equifax Settlement
 > > by
 > > Steven Weisman, Esq.
 > >
 > > There has been a lot of reporting in the media about the major Equifax
 > > settlement of claims brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the
 > > Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and all but two of the states'
 > > Attorneys General related to the avoidable 2017 data breach in which
 > > personal data on more than 147 million people was stolen.  The personal
 > > information included the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers
 > > of 147 million people putting them in serious danger of identity theft for
 > > the rest of their lives.  Unfortunately, much of the reporting, most
 > > notably that everyone will be getting $125 is not accurate.
 > >
 > > Here is what the agreement actually provides for:
 > >
 > >    1.  Free credit monitoring for four years at all three credit bureaus,
 > >    Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and six more years of free credit
 > >    monitoring at just Equifax or if you already have credit monitoring, which
 > >    we all should have, you can choose to receive $125.
 > >    2. Additional cash payments of as much as $20.000 for expenses you
 > >    paid out of pocket in response to the Equifax data breach.  These
 > >    reimbursement payments are intended to cover data breach related payments
 > >    made by you such as the costs of freezing and unfreezing your accounts
 > >    (which until last September cost between $3 and $12 each time you froze 
 > >    and
 > >    unfroze your credit reports; since September 21st federal law removed all
 > >    charges for freezing and unfreezing your credit reports), credit 
 > >    monitoring
 > >    and fees paid to accountants or lawyers related to the data.
 > >    3. Payments related to the time you spent dealing with the data breach
 > >    at a rate of $25 per hour.  If your claim is for ten hours or less, you 
 > >    are
 > >    required to describe the actions you took, such as freezing your credit
 > >    reports at each of the three credit reporting agencies and the time that
 > >    you spent on these activities.  If your claim is for more than ten hours,
 > >    in addition to describing what you did, you must also provide copies of
 > >    documents showing that you were a victim of identity theft or other
 > >    problems related to misuse of your information.
 > >    4. Seven years of free access to assistance through identity the
 > >    restoration services in the event that you do become a victim of identity
 > >    theft.
 > >    5. Beginning next year, you can get seven free credit reports each
 > >    year for seven years from Equifax.  Federal law  already provides that you
 > >    can get one free credit report  annually from each of the three major
 > >    credit reporting agencies so now you can receive, upon request seven free
 > >    credit reports from Equifax which you should spread out throughout the 
 > >    year
 > >    as well as the single credit report per year from Experian and TransUnion.
 > >
 > > Now for what is really going to happen.
 > >
 > > While reports of the settlement have proclaimed that Equifax will be
 > > paying 700 million dollars to settle the claims against it brought by the
 > > various federal agencies and states' Attorneys General, that number is
 > > extremely misleading.  Only 425 million dollars of that amount is earmarked
 > > for the benefit of consumers and only 31 million dollars of that amount is
 > > allocated toward the $125 cash payments.  The remaining 394 million dollars
 > > allocated toward consumers goes toward paying for the cost of the credit
 > > monitoring provided for in the settlement and the reimbursement payments,
 > > which most likely will be small for just about everyone.  In addition, once
 > > $125 payments total the allocated 31 million dollars, the payments will
 > > proportionately reduce.  Therefore it is important for you to file a claim
 > > as soon as possible in order to receive the full $125.
 > >
 > > TIPS
 > >
 > > The first step to take is to find out if you were one of the 147 million
 > > people affected by the data breach and therefore eligible to apply for
 > > benefits under the settlement.  Here is a link to the section of the
 > > settlement website to input your information to determine if you were a
 > > part of the data breach.
 > > https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility
 > >
 > > If you were affected by the data breach, here is the link to the part of
 > > the settlement website where you can file a claim.   All claims must be
 > > filed no later than January 22, 2020, however, I urge you to file a claim
 > > as soon as possible.  While no payments will be sent until after the
 > > settlement receives judicial approval, which is expected in December, it is
 > > still important to file your claim as soon as possible.
 > > https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/file-a-claim
 > >
 > > If you choose to receive free credit monitoring, once the settlement has
 > > been approved by the court and your claim has been approved, you will
 > > receive an activation code and instructions by your choice of email or
 > > regular mail.  Cash payments will be made by check or debit card sent by
 > > mail once the settlement and your claim have been approved.  The date for
 > > court approval of the settlement is December 19, 2019.
 > >
 > > If you wish to opt out of the settlement and sue Equifax on your own, you
 > > must do so by filing a request for exclusion by mail no later than November
 > > 19, 2019.  However, I cannot imagine any situations where it would be worth
 > > your while to do so.  One reason for this is that another aspect of this
 > > data breach that has been hardly reported on is that in the two years since
 > > the data breach occurred none of the data stolen in the data breach has
 > > been put up for sale on the Dark Web, that part of the Internet where
 > > criminals buy and sell goods and services.  Generally, following data
 > > breaches, the information is promptly marketed on the Dark Web by criminals
 > > seeking to capitalize on the information as soon as possible to maximize
 > > profits.  To date, it appears that none of the information stolen in the
 > > Equifax data breach has been sold on the Dark Web nor have there been
 > > reports of identity theft occurring attributable to the stolen information
 > > leading many experts, myself included, to conclude that similar to the 2015
 > > massive data breach at the federal Office of Personnel Management, this
 > > data breach may well be the work of the Chinese government which does such
 > > activities as a part of intelligence gathering and not for profit.
 > > Regardless of who committed this particular data breach, the danger to you
 > > of data breaches and resulting identity theft are tremendous and you should
 > > take action to protect yourself including, most prominently freezing your
 > > credit reports at each of the three major credit reporting agencies.
 > >
 > > As further developments occur in regard to the Equifax settlement, I will
 > > report them to you.