2

for the Equifax Data Breach , there is $125 being paid for people affected , previously one only needed to choose and the cash portion or the credit monitoring by Equifax. As most of the people has chosen the cash portion and now the administrator are asking the name of the Credit monitoring service. I see lots of bank, credit union and Credit card companies provide the free credit score.

Does using this Free credit reporting is a valid name ( if one uses such), like Chase, Citi etc as the provider.

Improve this question
5
  • 3
    Credit monitoring and access to a credit score are not the same thing. Does your service proactively notify you when your score changes?
    – Ben Voigt
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 13:30
  • If you expand that a bit, it's a good answer, Ben. I don't know how much more we'd be able to say.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 13:31
  • @ben-voigt , the credit card company provide the history of last credit score for last one year and it every month .
    – Raj
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 13:33
  • I'm sorry, what exactly is your question?
    – yoozer8
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 15:05
  • 3
    OP is asking what, exactly, the criteria is for "credit monitoring" for purposes of getting the $125, or more likely, $1.25.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 15:21

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Firstly, the $125 claim is pretty much false advertising. They only have $31M set aside for this 'alternative compensation', while the breach impacted 147 million people. If just 1% of people affected request the alternative compensation the actual amount per person would be $21. I imagine the response has been significantly higher, if so the payout will be significantly lower.

The overwhelming response is why they are now pushing to get people to switch to credit monitoring. Personally, I bank with CapitalOne and they use CreditWise which says: "Monitor your credit. For free. For everyone." Whether or not their services are as pro-active or robust as what is being offered in the settlement doesn't seem material to me, it is a form of credit monitoring that I already have.

That said, while I could indicate that I have credit monitoring, at this point I'm thinking that the cash payout will be so small that it might be a better value to get the credit monitoring they offer since it does include some identity theft insurance.

I've not done too much research on the settlement, but the FTC site has a good bit of info. I've got no specific advice for you, but don't expect $125.

Improve this answer
10
  • The $125 was not false advertising, but it was administered by the FTC, who announced a few weeks ago that they were discontinuing that option due to more people than they expected taking it. Since then, only the “free credit monitoring” is available.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 21:57
  • 1
    @WGroleau From FTC "The public response to the settlement has been overwhelming. Because the total amount available for the alternative compensations is $31 million, each person who takes the money option is likely to get a very small amount. Nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn’t been such an enormous number of claims filed."
    – Hart CO
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 22:00
  • When I tried to apply for the $125, the website explicitly stated it was no longer an option due to the overwhelming response. So either your quote or the one I read superseded the other.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 22:03
  • 1
    @WGroleau I called it 'pretty much false advertising' because the form makes a big show of $125 but the reality seems to be that it is a fraction of the $125, and likely a very small fraction. The odd thing is that they knew the class-size and still came up with $125/per on a $31M pot.
    – Hart CO
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 22:04
  • 1
    False, perhaps. Or bait-and-switch, but based on the version I read on their website, it sounded like they unwisely assumed more people would choose the credit monitoring option.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 22:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .