Some Equifax settlement checks bounced due to ‘clerical mistake’ at unsuccessful Signature Bank

Some customers who attempted to transfer an Equifax settlement check in current days got a surprise: It bounced.

The checks, an outcome of a legal settlement over the credit-reporting company’s 2017 information breach, were composed versus an account at Signature Bank. The bank was taken control of by regulators on Sunday after account holders– scared by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank recently– started withdrawing their cash en masse

Nevertheless, the checks that were returned overdue are not connected to the bank’s failure, stated Jennifer Keough, CEO of JND Legal Administration, which is dealing with the Equifax settlement.

” What took place here, due to a Signature Bank clerical mistake, specific checks that need to have cleared were turned down by other banks,” Keough stated.

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Less than 5,000 customers are impacted, Keough stated. Approximately 18 million customers belonged to the class-action suit that caused the settlement, she stated.

In the wake of Equifax’s 2017 information breach, which jeopardized the individual info of more than 147 million customers– consisting of names, birth dates and Social Security numbers– the business ended up being the target of numerous suits and reached a settlement in 2019 with the Federal Trade Commission, the Customer Financial Security Bureau and all U.S. states and areas.

As an outcome, customers who were impacted by the breach had the choice of registering for either as much as $125 or totally free credit tracking at all 3 of the biggest credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion

After application was postponed due to legal difficulties, the settlement got last court approval in early 2022.

The money payments– which might be far less than $125, such as $5 or $21– started heading out in mid-December either as a check, payment to a PayPal account or pre-paid card through e-mail from the settlement administrator, depending upon how the customer selected to get it.

If you are amongst those whose check bounced, you will be called by the administrator, Keough stated.

” We’ll be informing those people and reissuing their check,” she stated.

Furthermore, if your bank charged you a cost for the occurrence, you need to connect to the administrator. You can do that through e-mail (info@EquifaxBreachSettlement.com) or phone (1-833-759-2982).

” When they offer us with evidence of [the charge], the cash will be sent out to them,” Keough stated.