Two years ago, credit reporting agency Equifax suffered an enormous security breach. Hackers gained access to the personal data of 147 million Americans: Social Security numbers, credit card details, and other sensitive information. Almost half the U.S. population was affected.

Recently, Equifax reached a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to provide compensation for those impacted by the data breach. The FTC has posted summary details at its website. And if you're a real masochist, you can read the entire text of the settlement via PDF.

Over the past week, there have been a lot of stories going around that everyone is entitled to $125 due to the Equifax settlement. Here, for instance, is one of my real-life Facebook friends excited at the possibility of free money.

On Friday, one U.S. Representative tweeted: “Everyone: go get your check from Equifax! $125 is a nice chunk of change. Get that money and pay off a bill, sock it away, take a day off, treat yourself, whatever you'd like.” And at Slate, one author wrote that you have a moral obligation to claim money in the settlement.

I'll admit: Even I believed I was going to get $125. I told Kim about it so that she could get her $125 too.

But being a skeptic by nature, I've been digging a little deeper. Turns out things with the Equifax settlement are a little more complicated than “everyone gets $125”. In fact, most people won't (or shouldn't) get any money. [Read more…]