Affected by the Equifax Data Scandal? You Can Now File a Claim for $125 or More

Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty

After its part in exposing the sensitive information of hundreds of millions of Americans, Equifax is now on the hook for a $700 million settlement — and some of it could be yours.

While Equifax suspected something was awry in late July 2017, the company did not notify the FBI until early August, and then waited until September to tell customers of the attack. In all, the hackers stole 146 million Social Security numbers, and 209,000 payment card numbers and expiration dates, the newspaper reported.

“Companies that profit from personal information have an extra responsibility to protect and secure that data,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement, according to theTimes. “Equifax failed to take basic steps that may have prevented the breach.“

The FTC also found that Equifax had a chance to fix the vulnerability that granted the hackers access to the data when their security team was alerted in March 2017, but the patch was never performed.

They can also submit a claim for any time lost because of the breach, which will net them $25 per hour for up to 20 hours (which will require proof and documentation if they claim more than 10 hours).

Consumers will be able to claim up to $20,000 if they were the victim of fraud or experienced losses because of the hack, or if they paid out-of-pocket for expenses related to it, which will also require documentation. The deadline to file claims related to the scandal is January 22, 2020.

source: people.com