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FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

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Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#11

Post by ronsor »

kingnothing wrote: post #7
fooey wrote: post #2

The FTC's FAQ that was updated: https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/refunds/eq... > 5. I thought I could choose $125 instead of free credit monitoring. What happened? > The public response to the settlement has been overwhelming. Millions of people have visited this site in just the first week. Because the total amount available for these alternative payments is $31 million, each person who takes the mo…

If 150M people have suffered $125 in damages each, then Equifax needs to either pay out the $18B or declare insolvency.

after which their assets can be liquidated to pay off their debts to the people

Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#13

Post by jpetrucc »

It seems absurd that they only need to allocate $31 million for "alternative payments" while the old CEO leaves with close to $20 million in bonuses [0], while the rest of the money in the settlement is basically reserved for them to pay themselves for their "free" credit monitoring.

This whole situation was a good opportunity to set a precedent for companies not taking data security seriously. But they've instead shown everyone that you can really just ignore all of that and hope it's never discovered - even if it is, it's really just a light slap on the wrist. Combining this with the recent Facebook fine [1], it really makes me think that the FTC has become a complete joke.

[0]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/equifax-data-breach-settlement-...

[1]: https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20692524/facebook-five-bi...

Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#14

Post by maerF0x0 »

kingnothing wrote: post #7
fooey wrote: post #2

The FTC's FAQ that was updated: https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/refunds/eq... > 5. I thought I could choose $125 instead of free credit monitoring. What happened? > The public response to the settlement has been overwhelming. Millions of people have visited this site in just the first week. Because the total amount available for these alternative payments is $31 million, each person who takes the mo…

If 150M people have suffered $125 in damages each, then Equifax needs to either pay out the $18B or declare insolvency.

But that's not the settlement. The settlement is a fixed amount divided by claimants.

Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#15

Post by mason55 »

situational87 wrote: post #9

$31 million is a laughably small amount of money to set aside for direct settlements in the biggest hack in all of history. Add three zeroes to that, probably still not enough. I spent three days figuring out this nightmarish credit reporting system and helping friends and family place freezes, as well as educating them to avoid all the horrible dark patterns on Equifax's site. What I want is about $2000 and the abil…

As part of the settlement you can charge for your hourly time that you had to spend figuring out credit monitoring

Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#16

Post by post_break »

Nothing like being forced to use a company, who leaks your very important information, who gets set a tiny amount of money to pay out for damages, only to be told not to take it because that money might not be enough to pay everyone who was affected.

Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#17

Post by digitalsushi »

mywittyname wrote: post #6

We need The Corporate Death Penalty and we need to be able to enforce it in such a way that intangible assets can't be copied over to another entity which is left to continue operations. Hard assets can be auctioned and used to pay unemployment claims and restitution. Jail time for senior leadership would be nice too.

How can we get a politician to vote for a corporate death penalty when faced with tens, or hundreds, of thousands of now jobless constituents after its first sentencing is upheld?

Re: FTC: Equifax might run out of cash, so please take the credit monitoring

#20

Post by nathanaldensr »

Supposedly the settlement encourages me to trust Equifax to monitor my tradelines through "free credit monitoring"... but I can't trust the same company to monitor the safety of that very same data.

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense...

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