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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.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @07:13PM (9 children)
If you are so ignorant about how the world works I doubt some comments on here can help you. This story is about a government agency doing what the free market should be doing, very, very poorly to the detriment of all except the connected insiders who either own or are on the boards of corporations like equifax and have the bribed regulators and politicians in their pockets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @08:15PM (3 children)
oh man, that is some funny shit
so tell us! we have obviously all had the wool pulled over our eyes by Red Rosa and the bolsheviks! what is capitalism?
bonus round: what is property?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @10:04PM (2 children)
I'm sure your entirely incorrect worldview has lead to great success.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @11:07PM (1 child)
It has, thank you. Yours?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @11:23PM
BS, prove it.
Post the amount here then send btc from one address to the other to prove it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday August 02 2019, @10:53PM (4 children)
So the story is about Fascism (according to B. Mussolini's definition).
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @11:26PM
Yes, fascism is socialism...
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:45AM (2 children)
Exactly. Fascism is, in a nutshell, a union between big business and the government. Add a bit of nationalism to it and it will be Nazi.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @04:00AM
Thank you. I don't know why this is such a hard concept for many around here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @12:48PM
Look up the policies of the nazis and compare to democratic party platform... In particular the newest developments such as modern monetary policy and the green new deal.