Yahoo data breach settlement 2019: How to get up to $358

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Yahoo users can now file a claim for a piece of the $117.5 million class-action settlement related to massive data breaches.

If you had a Yahoo account between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2016 – including traditional Yahoo email or accounts on Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Yahoo Finance, Tumblr and Flickr – you can get two years of free credit monitoring services by AllClear ID or up to $358.

The website to file a claim is www.yahoodatabreachsettlement.com, and the deadline to file is July 20, 2020.

To get a cash payment, which may be $100 or less, you have to verify you already have credit monitoring or protection services and say you will keep them by filing an “Alternative Compensation Claim,” according to frequently asked questions on the settlement website.

The amount for alternative compensation payments is listed as $100 on the website with a note that the “amount could decrease if the amount of all valid claims exceeds the amount of the Settlement Fund, or the payment could increase to as high as $358.80 if there are remaining funds after all claims for Out-of-Pocket Costs, Paid User Costs, and Small Business User Costs are paid.”

The website notes “nobody can know in advance how much the payment will be.”

But based on past class action settlements, it is expected to be less than initially announced.

In July when the Equifax settlement was announced and the website to submit claims launched, consumers were told they could receive free credit monitoring for 10 years or up to $125.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, because the response to the settlement “has been overwhelming,” consumers will get “nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn’t been such an enormous number of claims filed.”

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The free credit monitoring services in the Equifax settlement has also changed and the website now says it will provide “at least 4 years of three-bureau credit monitoring” and that consumers “can also get up to 6 more years of free one-bureau credit monitoring through Equifax.”