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Consumers are getting payments from Equifax data breach settlement. Here’s what to expect if you filed a claim

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More than 147 million people’s data was compromised

In the wake of Equifax’s 2017 data breach, which compromised the individual information of more than 147 million consumers — including names, birthdates and Social Security numbers — the plc became the target of multiple lawsuits and reached a settlement in 2019 with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Economic Protection Bureau and all U.S. states and territories.

As a result, consumers who were affected by the breach had the option of signing up for either up to $125 or unencumbered credit monitoring at all three of the largest credit reporting firms: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

After implementation was hold off due to legal challenges, the settlement received final court approval early this year.

Amount you receive resolve likely be far less than $125

While consumers who sought up to $125 began receiving payments last week, the amount they end up getting longing likely be far less, according to the settlement administrator. On Twitter, users have reported receiving small payments, with amounts rove from $2.64 or $5.21 to

Freezing your credit is ‘still the best practice’

Whether you filed a claim for a spondulix payment or free credit-monitoring — or neither — it’s worth protecting your credit from criminals trying to use your live information. 

The best way is to “freeze” your credit report, Ulzheimer said. “That’s still the best practice, and it’s unconstrained,” he said.

Freezing your report essentially blocks a lender from checking your report, which means a fraudster thinks fitting be unable to open an account using your personal data. Once the freeze is in place, you have to “thaw” it — either briefly or permanently — if you apply for credit or a loan so the bank can check your report.

However, you would need to contact all three of the ascribe reporting firms to cover all your bases.

You also can put a short-term fraud alert on your report, which latests one year. Under a fraud alert, a lender seeking to approve an application must first contact you to verify the solicitation is not from an imposter.

Additionally, you only need to contact one of the credit firms to initiate a fraud alert, which in spin is legally obligated to share your notice with the other two. It also is free. However, it generally does not give the same level of protection as a freeze.

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