Does Equifax owe you $125?

In 2017, Equifax's data was breached exposing the credit information of nearly 150 million people. Some of this information included:

• Names

• Birth Dates

• Social Security numbers

• Addresses

• Driver's License Numbers

Photo by rupixen on Unsplash

Recently, Equifax and the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement that would require Equifax to pay $425 million to help those affected by this breach.

Are you eligible?

You can check to see if your information was breached, and if so, you may be entitled to receive at least $125, or free credit monitoring for up to 10 years. You may qualify for more depending on the expenses lost depending on the severity of your case.

Check to see if you qualify here and file a claim here. The deadline to file a claim is January, 22, 2020.

Personally, I think the privacy of my credit information is worth more than $125, but the acknowledgment of wrong doing here is a big step for those affected.

Additional Steps

If you are not already doing so, make sure you are taking these additional steps to keep your credit information private (if that's still possible) to prevent any future attempts at fraudulent credit or identify theft.

• Check your credit report - You can do this annually for free at annualcreditreport.com

• Place Fraud Alerts on your file

• Freeze your credit - This will make it harder for people open accounts in your name

• Actively monitor credit and bank accounts