Equifax asks people not to take cash settlement because they can't afford to pay all they turned over – Raw Story

As part of Equifax's credit bureau's settlement with the government over their disastrous data breach that exposed 145 million people's social security numbers, those affected may file a claim for $ 125 or free credit monitoring.

But after people signed up for the $ 125 option in heaps, Equifax, along with the Federal Trade Commission, is now asking consumers not to choose that option – because they didn't allocate enough funds as part of the settlement to pay it amount to all:

The FTC and Equifax are now advocating that people choose the credit monitoring option because it is not enough to pay all creditors $ 1[ads1]25: "You can still choose the cash option on the claim form, but you will be disappointed … and you will not receive the free credit monitoring. ” pic.twitter.com/aaTc52anAC

– Ryan Mac ? (@ RMac18) July 31, 2019

The total size of the Equifax- The settlement is $ 650 million, which means that even if the entire amount of it was recovered – and only a fraction of it was set aside for this purpose – no one would receive more than a few dollars per piece.