My bank account was hacked online, and I discovered that all my information is out there. I was on the phone for two weeks to get things squared away, but what became crystal clear to me was that the credit bureaus don't give a hoot about keeping your information safe. They're interested in making money off your info, period. Equifax was the least helpful and least competent of the three bureaus.
After I had done everything I could to feel somewhat secure, I found out that my home insurance covers identity theft. If your information was breached, check with your home insurance agent.
7
The majority of the victims will never receive full satisfaction. This has just given Equifax and its brethren the ability to charge us for their gross negligence, and make even more money off of us, to pay for their services after the fact of our thefts.
Further, with Congress' legislation to decrease their liabilities, including class actions and their requirements for restitution, most of us will never receive any viable benefits.
The fix has always been in for these agencies, and they are making obscene profits. All they have to do, is continue to lobby the current administration, for further potential abuse of their clients.
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Equifax has a lot more power than Ms. Bernstein thinks. I'll bet that check she won is insignificant compared with the problems a credit agency can cause her in the future. Until her death, actually, and often after.
2
The value of class-action lawsuits is not in the pittance that the participants generally receive in the end. It is in the large judgments that the companies are forced to pay and hence the resulting disincentive for them to behave the same way again.
If it did not matter a great deal to them, they would not be so frantic to replace class action rights with the sham alternative of "arbitration".
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Gotta give her credit ...
10
Given Equifax's behavior and unattentiveness, I think this type of pressure is critical to change their (and its bretheren's ) behavior. It's quite self-less that Ms. West chose to donate her winnings. I wonder if this applies to other high profile transgressors such as Facebook or Yahoo.
3
I think time would be better spent getting more support for such agencies as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If the average citizen were aware of how we are all being hosed by Big Equity, in every transaction, & on every legal decision, the awareness & importance of agencies such as this one would rise, & defense against predatory businesses could be easier.
1
A class action lawsuit for all those who have and are still paying for credit freezes, which they otherwise would not have needed, through multiple sources are costing hundreds of dollars a year and will be needed for years to come, should be compensated.
All 3 credit bureaus are benefiting from this breach with additional fees. The credit monitoring services we have to use in the US are outdated and irresponsible. It's extremely hard to improve your score but very easy to bring it down. If someone steals your identity the process to rectify it is extremely difficult and time consuming. We are all owed some type of compensation for this incompetence.
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