If You Requested USD 125 From Equifax Settlement Agreement, You Need to Confirm Your Claim
There is now one more step in the Equifax resolution process for claiming your $ 125 payment. If you’ve already filed a grievance, you may have received an email over the weekend asking for more information. An email from the infringement resolution administrator states that if you applied for $ 125 in lieu of free credit monitoring, you must confirm that you already have credit monitoring set up and keep it for at least the next six months. You must either confirm your application or amend it to request free credit monitoring instead, by October 15th.
The situation is exactly what Lifehacker’s Nicole Dicker pointed out at the end of July, after a flurry of statements began. The Settlement FAQ notes that if there are a large number of claims, the amount each person may receive may be reduced. A final email reveals that, as expected, many of us filled out our claim forms asking for some money.
Based on the number of potentially valid claims that have been filed to date, these benefits are likely to be substantially reduced and prorated if the settlement becomes final. Depending on the number of valid claims filed, the amount you receive as alternative compensation may be a small percentage of your original claim.
How to Review or Change Your Equifax Resolution Claim
If you receive this email, you must confirm or amend your claim by October 15th – otherwise, your claim will be denied and you will not receive anything after the settlement is completed.
To verify your claim, visit the settlement website and use your claim number (also listed at the top of the email) to access your claim.
When you log in using your claim number, name and zip code, you will be asked if you would like to verify your claim for alternative compensation, change your request for monitoring services, or opt out altogether. If you continue checking, you will be prompted to enter the name of the credit monitoring service you are registered with. You will electronically sign up and confirm by checking the box that you understand that you may be asked for additional information before your claim is approved. It took me less than five minutes to update my claim.
If you have a free monitoring service such as Credit Karma or Credit Sesame, that service must be valid to validate your application; the settlement does not indicate that you need to pay for the service, only that you are subscribed to it. Please check your status on these sites again before modifying your application. Take a look at your account settings and you should be able to see if you have credit monitoring and / or identity monitoring enabled, with notifications received in any way if the service detects an issue.
Did you receive a communication regarding your Equifax settlement claim? Are you going to check your credit monitoring status and risk getting less than $ 125? Will you change your claim request, or maybe drop it altogether? Let us know in the comments.