Joining the Equifax Data Breach Class Action 

Recover Money for Damages

Step-By-Step Guide

by 

W. Paul Alexander 

DISCLAIMER:  

1.  This post will explain to you how to check to see if you were impacted by the 2017 massive Equifax data breach.  

2.  I do not receive any sort of "finders fee" or "commission" or any type of compensation at all for directing people to the site listed.  It is a federally-mandated class action administrator's website.  I am simply writing this post because I think that everyone who possibly can recover money from Equifax for their negligence should do so.  

Equifax Data Breach Class Action Website:  https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility.  This will take you directly to the site where you enter your last name and the last 6 digits of your website.  if you were impacted, when you click "submit," it will tell you.  I have included screenshots further down the page. 

So, in September 2017, Equifax, one of the largest Credit Reporting Agencies in the world, released a statement admitting that they had been hacked, and that a data breach affecting hundreds of millions of Americans occurred -- approximately 147 million people, which is pretty much the entire creditworthy population of the country.  

As is the case with all data breach class actions, many individual suits were filed against the credit giant.  The cases were consolidated and a class action was certified, and is known as In re: Equifax Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 1:17-md-2800-TWT.  

Notices were sent to millions upon millions of people according to the contact information that Equifax had on record for its consumers.  Many people do not have up-to-date information on their credit report, so I figured that I would release the details for how to join the lawsuit and recover what you are owed to people who may have had their data stolen but did not have a correct email address or phone number on file to be notified of their eligibility.  

STEP ONE: Determine your eligibility.  

Visit this link:  https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility

You will be greeted with this page:  

Enter your last name/surname and last 6 of your Social Security number and click "submit."  

You will be greeted with the following page if you are found to have had your data stolen:  

If you see this page, click on "File A Claim"

STEP TWO:  Determine your eligibility.  

If you would like to take the standard award of multi-year credit monitoring, you can choose that option.  However, if you already have credit monitoring and would like a $125 check cut to you instead, you will need to select the option that you already have credit monitoring and would like the cash award instead.  

The instructions for filing a claim are relatively simple, and if you have 5 minutes of spare time, you can submit the claim and be put in the class status to receive a check once the settlement claim period is over, which I believe in sometime in January.  If so, they will likely start mailing us checks sometime around April-June 2020.  

Per the website, the instructions are as follows: 

"This form will ask for your contact information. You can then fill out one or more of the following sections depending on which benefits you want to claim:

1. Choose free credit monitoring, a cash payment (if you already have credit monitoring and will have it for at least the next six months), or skip to the next section

2. If you spent time recovering from the breach, you can request payment, or skip to the next section

3. If you lost or spent money because of the breach, you can request payment, or skip to the next section

4. Finally, you will confirm how you’d like to get your payment

You can file claims for some or all of the benefits in Sections 1-3 if you are eligible. Before you start, make sure you have your supporting documents ready to upload if you plan to request payment in Section 2 or 3. Click here to see the types of documentation that you may need. You do not need any documents to file Section 1 claims, but you do need to verify the name of the credit monitoring service you already have if you request a cash payment.

Your claim will only be received by the Settlement Administrator after you sign the form electronically and click the submit button. Please note that, if you make a claim for a cash payment, your payment may be significantly reduced based upon the number of claims filed."

Once you have entered your personal information, you will come to this page, where you will choose "OPTION 2" if you want a cash payment of $125

Now, the other cool part is that you can recover costs for time spent trying to repair your credit or hiring legal help to correct the data breach, or money spent on credit counseling, credit monitoring, or anything else spent in relation to the Equifax breach.  Without documentation, you can claim up to 10 or 20 hours, I believe.  

NOTE:  I am unable to continue to the rest of the claims process because I have already filed a claim, and as such, I cannot re-enter the claims system.  So, I cannot show screenshots past this one, but the process is almost over after this; you just have to determine if you want to submit a larger claim or not.  

If you want to claim money for time spent, it will explain how many hours you can submit.  If you have documentation, the limit is, I believe 10 or 20 hours.  If you have documentation of your losses and expenses, you can claim up to the actual amount lost.  

THATS IT, GUYS!  

Follow the steps all the way through til you receive a confirmation that your claim has been filed.  

This is not a scam.  Not a hoax.  Not a gimmick.  I make nothing from it.  

I just thought that people would want to receive this payment, especially those of us who KNOW we have been impacted by the data breach.  

As a matter of fact, this is probably one of the most valuable articles you will come across on this platform, because it involves you actually getting to make at least $125 for joining onto the lawsuit by filing a claim.  

If there is adequate response and interest here, I will write a step-by-step guide to joining consumer class action lawsuits.  I currently take in about $6000-7500 USD per year just in proceeds from class action lawsuits.  The best part is -- it's completely legitimate.  In fact, the attorneys administering the money feel "the more the merrier" in terms of class members, because if the money is not fully distributed, it usually goes back to the company that had to pay it -- where's the justice in that?  

Everyone, let me know in the comments if you want me to put together the guide for finding and claiming money from class action lawsuits.  While many of the checks you receive from these lawsuits are small (less than $20); I have actually had a single check for over $5000, so it's definitely nothing to sneeze at.  

I hope that this helps you all out!  I know I can use the extra money, and I'm sure you all can, too!  

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments! 

-WPA