koobazaur
107359
3110
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TL;DR - Equifax leaked personal data of almost HALF of US citizens. Class-action lawsuit follows. Equifax is ordered to pay $125 to everyone affected, or offer free credit monitoring. But they only set $31 million for this, meaning they can't pay $125 if more than 1% of the people affected claim their reimbursement. FTC agreed to this too and is now helping Equifax avoid paying more.
Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190731/16235842691/ftcs-settlement-with-equifax-is-such-joke-ftc-is-now-begging-you-not-to-ask-cash-settlement.shtml?fbclid=IwAR2X2CEuzCWrCThCDoB_1_NUD4kYvb8uoc6peIaa0aYO4wKizxFBPnxBGZY
EDIT: OH shit, we made it to FP! Good, educating people one shitty meme at a time. Someone should make an FB event lol
EDIT 2: Here's the link to check if you were affected and claim it: https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility
tooomanystevesgotbanned
WTF America?
nonamejanie
How do they get to keep our credit info if their asses keep doing shit like this.
doguapo
Wait, so when we were supposed to “storm Area 51,” is this what they meant all along? Storm the FTC?
tookforeverbutifinallyhaveausername
Wait... in order to see if I qualify for the settlement, I need to put my last name and last 6 digits of my social into a web site?
Mickp81
Don’t worry they can totally be trusted to setup a secure online system.
glitterdemon
Socialism for people’s welfare is bad, but for company welfare is great! /s
koobazaur
Think about all the Equifax Children, they have rights too you know ;(
EnJnY
I lost a lot of money because of them and they denied me my $125. Sign me up!
joshpurple
Malzie
Set aside 31 million of the 700 million they have to pay. Where the fuck does the rest go? Lawyers and politicians. Srsly fked up IMO.
Counterfit
Fines don't go to politicians
Weegeenmario
Hey, btw guys. I don't remember expressly giving any of these credit bureaus permission to have my personal data.
causality
You did when you signed up for credit or took out any sort of loan. I never did and my info wasn't leaked.
Smozzerz
I got a student loan and mine was leaked...sucks.
neuroticweasel
Did Sallie Mae sell your loan to navient to avoid having you claim unfair practice? Because if you had one, Sallie Mae could still null it.
ChefBrooke7029
Rise up and take over millenials. Make change! Oust the baby boomers who ruined our world
SoftcoreFavorites
I wonder how long it would take for Americans to realize they don't live in a democracy but rather in a lobby owned company.
buttcrackula
We live in a Constitutional Republic.
Dokramuh
Which is a form of democracy.
freckledkink
A lot of us do
landofbob
Done. Now what?
[deleted]
[deleted]
landofbob
The 2nd doesn't work like that now that the politicians and CEOs control the US armed forces. They are way better at 2nd amendmenting.
WolvesAtTheDoor
Rich engage in wide scale sex trafficking and pedophilia, Tax evasion, bribing college admissions, Ponzi schemes. And we go to jail for weed
AnnieBahde
My fav story I read this week was rich people nominally giving up custody of their kids so they can get scholarships and financial aide.
AnnieBahde
Best part is it’s apparently legal. Sneezy as hell but technically legal. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
x1xruex1x
But remember, Facebook gives your information out and the government freaks on them. Equifax loses your life,.. Not a damn thing
chiefwill
Undrave
And now Desjardins went with Equifax to monitor our lost data >< for pete sake...
KeithE01
Why doesn’t any hacker ever get in and mark peoples loans as being paid? That would be some serious Robin Hood shit!
Articate
It would be easily reversible, since there aren’t any real transactions behind the wiping
OdinYggd
Redundant storage + physical backups. It would take a CIA level group effort and physical plant infiltration to achieve this.
amorcelestial
The series 'Mr. Robot' is premised on exactly that scenario, I highly recommend it.
pflugerville
It's easier for hackers to read data than to write to it.
freckledkink
They also have hard copies
MasterPrime
Because it's not stored on a single server. I'm pretty sure you couldn't even accidentally wipe out even a single persons debt.
KeithE01
I can dream, can’t I?
MastaFnog
Urmomsnewboyfriend
Tyler Durden has a plan
MasterPrime
yeah. his plan was to blow up a single building. It's pretty but it achieved nothing.
DirkNurple
You did not see the movie. O
MasterPrime
I did. Literally nothing would have happened. No company is so stupid they don't have offsite backups
joebryanjones1978
news flash Lifelock is also owned by equifax which people decided to get after the equifax leak made the news.
CreigerRykov
Oh; so that's why Experian has a direct comparison for their own service vs them on their website.
BatmansUnderPantsAreSoSoft
Should still be able to sue since we settled for 125 bucks cash. If I get less, I'm going to be pissed.
greentights
if you take the $125, you lose your right to sue
BatmansUnderPantsAreSoSoft
they've already announced so many people claimed for it that they're not going to get 125 so that changes the game.
JesusofMethlehem
Furthermore, I bet that 31 million will offset their taxes... see if Equifax pays any taxes next year. Like amazon doesn't
Counterfit
Oh, and the CEO that sold stock in between learning about the breach and revealing it publicly got $19m in severance.
koobazaur
^ this. They knew about the fuck up and actively profited from it. Boils my crabs!
Silas007
TL;DR: Equifax has data on millions who did not consent, fucked up royally, kept the profits and gains a ton more business from the suit
mop82
Everyone who ever took out a loan or credit card technically consented, unfortunately. It just goes to show how we can't fully understand
mop82
everything we sign, even if we think we do. We need far more stringent consumer protections for the digital age.
koobazaur
Capitalism 2019™
Silas007
1. Manufacture a crisis (out of negligence) 2. offer the solution 3. profit 4. Repeat - Happens all the time. "Too big to fail" anyone?
youlovemeyouhateme
Why isn't anyone mentioning the $77m paid to the lawyers who sued for this settlement?
youlovemeyouhateme
Sauce: https://www.law.com/2019/07/22/equifax-reaches-1-4-billion-data-breach-settlement-in-consumer-class-action/?slreturn=20190702232239
koobazaur
honestly, even if lawyers didn't take anything, the extra 77m would only bring the payout to... yep still less than $1 per person affected
koobazaur
the problem isn't the lawyers taking a cut, the problem is FTC not fining Equifax nearly enough
EroticZombiePants
1% is likely about all that will bother claiming. Class action lawsuits tend to not actually involve the vast majority affected.
koobazaur
According to the article, FTC stopped mentioning the payout because the response was "overwhelming" so it sounds like way more than 1%
Ouronum
Meteor. Plague. Nukes. We need a reset for this shithole, right now.
koobazaur
At this point if I become an eccentric billionaire, I'd be a super-villain trying to bring on global warming. "Yes more cows, MORE COWS!!!"
RickSlabjaw
Their failure was so complete their corporate charter should have been revoked. I can’t believe they still get to be a company.
koobazaur
^ this. As a small business owner, it pisses me off to no end when other businesses get away with this shit.
sxybritchesheartsandypandy
My info was hacked because I applied for a mortgage. I filed a claim with this new lawsuit (after seeing an imgur post) . It stated (1/2)
sxybritchesheartsandypandy
I had to have proof that I had other credit protection before I could request the cash option. Or I would legally be liable. (2/2)
darktree27
That’s fucked up.
Tacobuttocks
How is $125 even close to the value of what was stolen or the potential shit storm those stolen creds bring the people who took the money??
doitthehemingway
I think it should be replaced with a single social credit monitoring system instead.
LrrrRulerofThePlanetOmicronPerseiVIII
This is a joke... right...?
HereDueToYourOnePeskyDownVote
Old FaceyB got a whopping $5bn fine for actively selling your data and these arse clowns get a fraction of that for being incompetent.
NuggetDuster
When the Office of personnel management was hacked I had $10k in false charges... Recompense...free credit monitoring...from the OPM.
tellmeimcute
Even less than that. The law firm who is leading the suit will probably take a 40-60% cut off the top, then the remaining is divided up.
chimi11
They set aside more money for those that actually got their identity stolen and similar situations. Everyone else gets $125
chimi11
The $31MM is just to pay out people who were not affected but even then it wasn’t enough.
TakeAnUpvote
On the payout site, if you can prove you had documents/cards/etc stolen, you can get up to $30k. Which makes this $31m even worse 1/2
TakeAnUpvote
Because that $31m is for those big payouts and all the $125 ones. It’s outrageous.
BenderBendingRrodriguez
I think we need a Tyler Durden
RunsNakedThroughSwamps
Wait does this apply if people opened cards in your name or just if they stole your existing ones?
mop82
any "out-of-pocket losses resulting from the data breach" or "the time you spent remedying fraud, identity theft, or other misuse...
mop82
"of your personal information caused by the data breach... up to 20 total hours at $25 per hour" for a total of up to $20k, not $30k.
mop82
tl;dr, you can file a claim for any fraud/theft thats "fairly traceable to the Data Breach (i.e., letter from IRS or bank or police report)"
RunsNakedThroughSwamps
Thanks! I claimed the hours I spent on the phone reporting fraud. Thought maybe there was more.
RunsWithBullShit
It's not. And the 4 year monitoring is a joke, since we will have to live with all our info being out there the rest of our lives.
marshmallowkin
4 year monitoring? They only offered me 6 months.
nonamejanie
Yep can’t get your social security numbers back once they are out.
reload2456
You can however change them but it's a giant fucking hassle.
nonamejanie
I’m sure it is.
reload2456
If it involves the govt it's a fucking hassle.
MeekrabJones
Isn't that the point of a class action though? Rather than everyone filing separate claims for full damages, they band together to stand 1/
MeekrabJones
a better chance at the expense of the payout? That way the company pays out but now they have thousands to fight against instead of one 2/
MeekrabJones
or two that went through all the hassle involved. Legal fees, fighting a team of corporate lawyers, months/years of work to possibly lose 3
pleaseconsiderthatImightbejoking
No the point of class action lawsuits is so lawyers can take up a persons case without their consent, agree to a settlement that doesn't 1/2
pleaseconsiderthatImightbejoking
fairly compensate for their damages, prevent them from going to court themselves and enrich themselves off of it. 2/2
trisexualgardengnome
Doesn’t what?????
HEXADECIMAL
Could we PLEASE just ALL AGREE that the Three Credit companies need to be completely dismantled???
mop82
Agreeing on something doesn't make it happen.
TheyCallMeTheHiphopopotamusIgotFlowsThatGlowLikePhosphorous
It's a good first step
grandallbiognome
Absolutely
charlietrundlethegreat
I hear there is a club that meets at nights.
HEXADECIMAL
Is this a club that no one talks about?
charlietrundlethegreat
Shhh
ShawnRussell
I wonder why ANONYMOUS has not targeted the big three yet. They talk a big game, but have no bite.
schrodingersasymmetric12gauge
Because that group has been compromised.
CAAFlo
I mean.... This all happened because someone hacked equifax.... So they were targeted.
i2ocker89
ANONYMOUS is not looking out for the people. They don't care about politics and certainly don't care about this
LychFinderGeneral
They've never ever had a bite. They're practically a meme that took itself seriously.
MrHailstone
What exactly do they do? Are they a bank?
RedIronCrown
They amalgamate data from lenders to predict whether a person will keep future repayment commitments. Lenders use this data to assess risk.
awesock
They keep track of if you pay your loans n bills n shit and then tell people whether or not you're trustworthy. It's the difference between
awesock
Getting offered a no-fee cash back credit card or a high fee high interest rate card
irrevocably
I have never had a single late bill. Payed off 20k student loans in 1.5 years. My credit goes from 600 to 750 and never higher. Fucking joke
RedIronCrown
750 is high enough to do just about anything. If you want a higher score you need to provide more data. Get a CC and pay it off every month.
irrevocably
I have 4 cc that are paid off. 3 actively used.
Jagerbeast
Just the credit companies? We need a fucking scorched earth restart
Usiris23
youeitherlikeordislike
Calm down, Thanos. (I agree with you though)
JackNovius
This is what V2 was for
Bystandr
The general misery visited on everyone is something I dont think anyone properly appreciates. We run on 'just in time' supply. Look at
Bystandr
what happened during the hurricane in NJ- store shelves cleaned in 48 hours without power and services. Once you take a few cards out of the
Bystandr
house, its all going to fall, and when the food runs out, people wont just quitely starve. They're going to start serving long pig.
HEXADECIMAL
I've been a hunter my entire life, I'll tag em and bag em, but maybe we should consider voluntary soylent green before we use violence.
ChaosandChaos
Shelves clear out during every storm, usually before they come. I don't know if this is a good analogy.
Shanghaidoll
You do know that if that happens, you'll die too, right?
OtterlyMagnificent
I see ONE downside. I wouldn't get to die on Mars. But that's what the next go-round is for.
claudesniper
Just ask Musky nicely, there's a chance you could die on Mars, but on impact
OtterlyMagnificent
I'd prefer to survive the landing. But it is what it is.
Welley
win/win
mrwhippysdietcolashake
If that's what it takes
Silas007
I see this as an absolute win.
nutsacrilegious
If a "normal" company had done this they would be bankrupted. Making matters worse, I never gave Equifax consent to HAVE my information.
nonamejanie
Exactly. I never okayed any reporting agency to access mine either. Apparently that’s not important.
ChaosandChaos
Your what? You never opened a bank account? Got a loan? Purchased auto insurance? Done anything fiscal ever?
StrangerNum1
This I why paying for Lobbying is a great investment
faultysage
Yeah you did.
koobazaur
I made this post in anger NOT as a citizen but as a small business owner. I pride myself in making profit & treating customers right 1/2
koobazaur
Then comes Equifax/the banks/etc. who FUCK UP royally, and government steps in "lol is cool bebe, we gotchu" and I'm like W-T-F
LoadedBakedPotatoes
You never had a choice to share. It’s on record for ever, as long as you don’t move to woods and pay with peanuts.
dacsdorks
It's not your info, it's their info. About you. Having typed that I feel gross and may go cry in the shower for a bit.
IHaveTwoCuteDoggies
Lol yeah bullshit. I was owed over $3k in overtime/break wages from my old company. Lawsuit happened. I got $143. Theyre still around.
neuroticweasel
Walmart? I got a whopping 200 from them, even though a person who was there for a year during the timeframe for 2k
neuroticweasel
I was there for 7 of the 8 year tiemframe
IHaveTwoCuteDoggies
Nah. Oilfield contractor
mop82
good ol' USA, socializing corporate losses while privatizing its gains since 1834.
jwax33
You don't have to. You gave someone else (like a credit card company, landlord, employer, etc.) permission to share it with them.
Metadonmixer
And this why the gdpr in Europe. Though a massive PITA to companies, is a good thing for the consumers...
drokblock
Not necessarily. You gave a company permission to check your credit history. It's not always consent to delve that information out to them
InoffensivePablum
You ever actually read those terms and conditions, fren? It is in there. You have any kind of financial account? You consented.
BaconLife907
Same, I had never heard of Equifax before the breach (I was 20) so it made me curious who else has my info...?
DocTanner
If you didn't know the credit bureaus at 20 then our education system failed you badly. That should be part of a basic, required class in HS
IfOnlyICouldUseMyPowersForGood
Everyone. Me. I have your info. But seriously, your info is everywhere in various degrees.
realdale
Facebook
physicsisabitch
Worse yet...equifax sets your credit rating meaning how much you pay for a home loan! The credit gate keepers!
OtterlyMagnificent
That's just not right. At all.
pandorafalters
It sort of made sense when the idea was just being a clearinghouse for the data. It got very dangerous when the "clearinghouses" started ①
pandorafalters
② (very early) INTERPRETING the data & "rating" people's creditworthiness. Apparently even their employees don't understand the algorithms.
pandro
If you apply for credit, or to rent an apartment, or even to some jobs, part of the fine print is that your signature authorizes them to 1/
pandro
check your credit. If it's the first time the credit bureaus have heard of you, they will start a file on you, associated with your 2/
pandro
social security number. So any time someone asks for your social, and they are not going to be giving you taxable money (which employers 3/
pandro
and banks and investments have to report to the IRS), then they want to look you up. Health insurance used to be tied to SSNs but 4/
nonamejanie
All credit agencies have your info. There’s trans union, equifax and another one that’s the top three. Then there’s a couple of others.
wutnowxx
Experian
ChaosandChaos
Trivago
Imnotenteringausername
Donkey!
ThisDique
Im still taking the cash option as a fuck you. They're paying for something im never gonna use. Post stamp and all.
iWishICouldStopSquanching
I was affected by the leak so I’m taking the $125. I’m broke af and work is slow so Ill take what I can get. Thanks for the info @op
Ladyabbeyquinn
They are even sending us our 21 cents until after the end of January 2020
Ladyabbeyquinn
Arent
iWishICouldStopSquanching
Well fuck, I guess it will be a nice surprise in the mail because I’m sure as shit gonna forget about it. Thanks for the info
orangeyougladitsnotbanana
Ask for the money...never cash the check. I have several I never cash...they keep sending them. Fuck those guys.
orangeyougladitsnotbanana
0.02 check from cable company I made them send me 1.48 check from student loan...can fuck right off...I never cash them
suburbianart
You know a check is only good for 90 days?
Dankking
Nah bro. My grandma gave me a birthday check that I lost and re found a year later and it cashed just fine
pixelsnader
Why would you not cash them after you ask for them?
orangeyougladitsnotbanana
You think if I owed the cable company 2 cents they would let it go yet they had no intention of sending me my 2 cents back. That was free 1/
StanleyTucciSaysOHSHlT
The administrative overhead to maintain the unbalanced financials is more than the cost of the check. Also... More of a point of F them. :)