https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3agv7/the-equifax-settlement-is-a-cruel-joke

Last week, the FTC said the 147 million consumers impacted by the Equifax hack and leak would be eligible for a $125 cash payout as part of a settlement with the credit reporting giant. This week, the FTC abruptly backtracked, insisting that because the public’s interest in the money was somehow “unexpected,” most victims would never actually see these funds.

Experts say the sudden about face illustrates the flimsy nature of the settlement, and an agency that’s failing to take consumer outrage over repeated privacy violations seriously. As part of the $575 million settlement, up to $425 million was set aside to compensate those who could clearly prove they were victims of identity theft as a result of the breach. For those unable to prove clear financial harm (most of us), the settlement offered users either free credit reporting for ten years, or a $125 one time cash payout. But because the FTC only set aside $31 million to pay for these payouts, it quickly ran out of cash and is now falsely telling consumers the free credit reporting is a “much better value.” But because free credit reporting is routinely doled out as compensation for a steady parade of privacy breaches, it’s effectively worthless to most consumers. Many of these services also include terms of service restrictions that erode your legal rights. “The Equifax settlement is laughable,” Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement to Motherboard. “With just $31 million to be divided up by all the Americans who filed to receive their $125 check, Americans have the choice of receiving pennies for having their credit details spilled out online, or receiving virtually worthless credit monitoring,” he said. “Another clear failure by the FTC.” Tim Wu, a Professor at Columbia Law, told Motherboard the FTC’s assumption that just 240,000 of 147 million victims would put in a claim shows the agency really didn’t think things through.