LUBBOCK, Texas — Following a 2017 breach that exposed the data of approximately 147 million people, the credit reporting agency Equifax has agreed to pay back those affected.
According to the Texas Attorney General’s office, 12.2 million Texans were impacted by the breach of data. The Texas population is estimated as being 28.7 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That works out to being an estimated 42% of the Texas Population.
Equifax is offering those impacted by the breach a one-time payment of $125 or up to 10 years of free credit monitoring and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. First, consumers need to find out if their information was exposed.
- Click here to check with Equifax if they exposed your information. You will need to provide your last name and the last six numbers of your social security number.
- If you were affected, click here to file a claim with the FTC and either get a $125 settlement payment or free credit monitoring. You will again need to list some private information.
- Consumers can also upload supporting documents from time and money spent checking or recovering from identity theft. Equifax may provide a max of $20,000 in reimbursement for these expenses.
Alongside filing a claim in the Equifax settlement, consumers are also legally entitled to a free credit report once a year. To watch for suspicious activity, AnnualCreditReport.com offers a combined report from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.
(KSNT contributed to this report)
