I originally wrote about the Equifax data breach nearly five years ago. For those of you who were not following, Equifax was infiltrated and over 143 million U.S. consumers’ personal information was obtained.
The company’s CEO at the time, Richard Smith, retired. It was more than appropriate for the person running the country to leave his post but little more was done to assist consumers.
The company entered into a $700 million settlement with the government where $125 would go to consumers who had credit monitoring services or complimentary credit monitoring services for those who did not.
There was rumbles that consumers would not receive the $125 as the money set aside for the cash option was not enough to cover everyone who submitted a claim for the cash option. As time went on, I heard very little about the data breach.
That all changed this past week. I received an unmarked envelope which contained a check for $22.82 USD. WOW. A whopping $22 for losing my personal information. I thought the $125 was a lowball offer but this is ridiculous.
Final Word
It appears that the Equifax data breach fiasco is finally coming to an end after nearly five years. I think $22 is an insulting amount to be paid for my information to show up on the dark web.
Have you received your settlement check?
