Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday August 02 2019, @05:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the basic-math dept.

Sorry, you're not getting $125 from the Equifax settlement, FTC says

Remember that $125 you could have gotten from the Equifax Inc. data-breach settlement? Yeah, never mind.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that, due to an overwhelming response, cash payments aren't going to be anywhere near $125 each, and urged consumers to sign up for the free credit monitoring offered as an alternative.

About 147 million people were affected by the 2017 Equifax EFX, -0.64% breach, but only $31 million was set aside for payments as part of the $700 million settlement, announced last week. A quick bit of math shows that for everyone to have gotten $125 from that pot, there would have to be only 248,000 claimants. While the FTC didn't give a number, they said there were already "an enormous number of claims filed."

"A large number of claims for cash instead of credit monitoring means only one thing: each person who takes the money option will wind up only getting a small amount of money," the FTC said in a blog post Wednesday.

"So, if you haven't submitted your claim yet, think about opting for the free credit monitoring instead," the FTC said. "Frankly, the free credit monitoring is worth a lot more."

[...] The agency noted that consumers who had to pay out-of-pocket expenses due to the breach are still entitled to reimbursement if they submit a claim, as that money comes from a separate fund.

To get more information, or to find out if your data was exposed in the breach or file a claim, go to ftc.gov/Equifax.

Another quick bit of math reveals that if every one of the 147 million people affected opted for the $125 payout, the settlement pool would have needed to contain $18.375 billion; the payout fund totaled 0.17% of that: $31 million. Putting it another way, they set aside $0.21 for each potential claimant.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Dale on Friday August 02 2019, @06:28PM (1 child)

    by Dale (539) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 02 2019, @06:28PM (#874770)

    They already have my address history, debt history, and everything else anyone needs to steal my identity. They should just send me a check automatically.

    Just like in voting, the whole system is rigged around people not participating. When people actually participate, it breaks what they've carefully setup to avoid all the things.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +4  
       Insightful=3, Interesting=1, Total=4
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @10:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @10:02PM (#874848)

    Just like the courts too. Everybody is supposed to take a shitty deal instead of going to court. The system would implode.