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Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

nytimes.com

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Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#271

Post by cwkoss »

cactus2093 wrote: post #247
cwkoss wrote: post #6

If anyone is getting a mortgage or refinancing soon, ask your lender to 'drop' equifax without running your score with them - just take the score from the other two. Equifax is an unnecessary security and privacy risk. They are a horrible company that needs to go out of business. Make their customers feel embarrassed to be doing business with them.

Post-breach, both TransUnion and Equifax now work with CreditKarma to let you view your score and whether or not your report is locked, and they both let you create an online account with them as well to view your score or easily lock/unlock your credit report whenever you need to. Experian refuses to work with CreditKarma and only lets you "freeze" and unfreeze your account in the legally required way, which require…

This is why consumers need to organize to kill the worst one first.

Equifax has a poor reputation from the leak in addition to having an antisocial business model, so they are the most vulnerable.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#272

Post by FireBeyond »

tathougies wrote: post #259
FireBeyond wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because many times, the default "punishment" is a fine that is often times a _small percentage_ of the _profit_ from the illegal/negligent act. That is not a punishment, or even a deterrent. And therefore, corporate leaders continue, unabated, doing things like this. Because there is effectively zero incentive to do so. If you are a corporate officer, directing and / or approving policies that are illegal, tell me wh…

> If you are a corporate officer, directing and / or approving policies that are illegal, tell me why you should -not- go to prison? You should and the law allows for this. Certain crimes will get corporate executives locked up. It's a matter of making stricter liabilities and sentences for these white collar crimes, which really should have happened yesterday.

I absolutely agree. I was addressing the parent, more - and their question of "why does HN have this obsession with sending people to prison for corporate/white collar crimes?"

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#273

Post by nradov »

ptero wrote: post #246
bdamm wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bankruptcy seems quite appropriate. They not only failed to maintain the security of the data, they also provided no identity theft protection to the public (unless you asked for it), and as a company appeared to have no plan for this event. Given that they were entrusted with the identity data for basically all Americans, that is inexcusable.

> Bankruptcy seems quite appropriate. Hmm... Would not they just file for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, restructure their debts (i.e., write those pesky $125 payments off), then emerge in a better shape than they were?

That's not how bankruptcy works. The court and trustee divide the assets across creditors according to debt seniority.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#274

Post by nradov »

posterboy wrote: post #266
mffnbs wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(i.e., write those pesky $125 payments off) What does that mean? As far as I know, you can't just announce that you're "writing off" debts and have them magically disappear.

You sell the company at a low price to a friend and pay out the low sum to the plaintiffs. This would need approval under chapter 11, I guess, and if you sell the company it includes the debt, so they'd have to be tricky about it and just sell the meat or the milk, not the whole cow. Ironically, this invariably means selling the customer data (but also existing contracts and what not). IANAL

The bankruptcy judge and trustee wouldn't approve an asset sale at significantly less than fair market value.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#275

Post by mehrdadn »

prophesi wrote: post #230
mehrdadn wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is not what the parent comment was going for. It said, "I'd like to see the courts force Equifax [...]".

Now it's just semantics. Denying the current settlement would inevitably result in a larger settlement, unless everyone appealing to the courts is saying that the $125 repayment is too much.

How is this just semantics? If they have to do things over, they might just reach a different settlement than paying individual people $X. Or heck, there's always a chance they won't agree and will have to battle it out in court. Or maybe something else that I can't think of. It might be likely that they'd come up with a better payment, but it seems far inevitable to me.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#276

Post by qrbLPHiKpiux »

knicholes wrote: post #195
camhenlin wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for posting this. My wife and I already have credit monitoring so we’ve been very frustrated that it seems like Equifax will be weaseling out of paying us our $125 each. We’ll be sending a couple of letters today. Personally I’d like to see the courts rethink the settlement and force the $125 payout to everyone who requested it.

Is it just me who thinks that $125 would hardly cover the cost of dealing with a stolen identity?

As Martin said in the Simpsons, “as a bundle we form a mighty faggot.”

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#277

Post by vagab0nd »

jjeaff wrote: post #251
situational87 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, $17B (or more, or dissolving the company) would start to actually spark off some real change in attitudes towards infosec among executives, instead of just continuing the status quo with this non-enforcement action. The strangest part of this ordeal was when that guy from the FTC was encouraging consumers to take the monitoring on Equifax's request. They're not even pretending to be regulated anymore, t…

I actually don't think taking the monitoring is a bad idea. The $125 will not amount to much and he knew that. The monitoring does include some type of identity theft insurance I believe which could actually end up costing Equifax a lot more. Since the settlement amount was fixed, I don't see any reason the the ftc to encourage not taking it for the wrong reasons.

Too bad the total amount is fixed. I don't care about the $125. I want them to lose a substantial amount of money so that they and everybody else start taking this more seriously.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#278

Post by Fjolsvith »

benj111 wrote: post #130
Fjolsvith wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He sure made some people's lives better.

Yes, but only a small demographic that actually votes. If only 1% of the population actually votes, elected representatives will tend to represent that 1%. If you cede the centre ground you get extremists. Say what you like about Trump, he managed to get his target demographic fired up and out to vote. $boring_reasonable_politician doesn't have the same ability by their nature to get people fired up, but we still nee…

When you say "$boring_reasonable_politician" I think Joe Biden.

If what Trump did last election was getting them fired up, then this election they are going nuclear. Check out the massive waves of people at his rallies versus the trickles at the Dem's gatherings.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#279

Post by nwah1 »

dalbasal wrote: post #88
TheSoftwareGuy wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we really know for sure that the other bureau's are really any better, and not just lucky at this point?

It doesn't necessarily matter. If one of these companies is badly wounded by credibility problems... it can catalyze a wider change.

Alternatively, it could just consolidate the industry even more than it already is.

Re: Equifax doesn't want consumers to get their $125

#280

Post by nwah1 »

Oblouk wrote: post #258
mannanj wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might not be a bad time for disruption by a blockchain https://bloom.co/

Wow, this is actually a great use case for blockchain

No it isn't. This would ensure that identity theft is a permanent and irreversible thing.
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