Well, that's not a great turnout.
After the Equifax data breach was settled with U.S. states in July, the company offered victims two options:
- 10 years of free credit monitoring, or;
- Up to $125 in cash compensation
Most people are going for the cash. In fact, Equifax reports that only 2% of eligible breach victims are choosing the free credit monitoring.
MarketWatch covered the story:
The filing indicates the bucket of money for the cash compensation, capped at $31 million, will be used up. There's a separate bucket of money—$69 million —that will be used to compensate victims' lost time. So far, victims have filed claims for cash and lost time totaling more than $60 million, attorneys wrote.
Consumers have until Jan. 22, 2020 to file claims either for free credit monitoring, the cash payment, or to cover out-of-pocket losses from the breach. More people will "undoubtedly" sign up for the free credit monitoring by that point, their filing said.
