Jump Through Hoops For $125 From Equifax

(RTTNews) - Equifax Inc (EFX) is set to pay $125 to people in the United States affected by the data hack in 2017.

Last week, Equifax announced that it agreed to pay $700 million, including $425 million in compensation, to settle with the Federal Trade Commission claims tied to the 2017 data breach that exposed Social Security numbers and other private information of 147 million people.

Equifax has agreed to pay all the hack victims $125 or 10 years of free credit monitoring.

You can use an Equifax settlement website to check whether you're eligible for benefits from the settlement in the first place. You'll have to enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number. If your data was stolen and you are eligible for a payout then you can file your claim on the website itself or download a form and mail it.

The 10 years of free credit monitoring includes "at least four years of free monitoring of your credit report at all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion)" and "up to six more years of free monitoring of your Equifax credit report."

The settlement lets you submit claims for multiple benefits and the final date for filing the claim is January 22, 2020.