Consumer Protection

States call for higher benchmarks for Green Guides standards on environmental advertising to prohibit deceptive marketing to consumers

OAKLAND – Attorney General Rob Bonta today co-led a multistate coalition in submitting comments urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to strengthen its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, or “Green Guides,” which states like California use to hold marketers accountable and protect consumers. In a letter sent to FTC Chair Lina Khan, Attorney General Bonta was joined by 15 attorneys general in calling for updates to the federal Green Guides to bolster consumer protection laws against advertising that overstates environmental benefits, often called “greenwashing.” 

“California is a leader in reducing waste, enacting environmental laws with the highest standards, and protecting and preserving our precious natural resources. FTC’s Green Guides must be updated and strengthened to better ensure individuals and businesses can base their consumer decisions on accurate information,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We are urging the federal government to go even further in developing strong standards to protect people from misleading information and to establish a stringent baseline for environmental marketing claims.”

The Green Guides were first developed in 1992 by the FTC to hold marketers accountable for deceptive marketing claims under state consumer protection laws. The Green Guides are an essential tool in public and private efforts to address critical environmental issues by helping to ensure that consumers are not misled when making purchasing decisions based on products and services’ environmental benefits.

The states recommend continuing to publish, clarify, and strengthen the Green Guides. The multistate coalition advises the FTC to expand the scope of the Green Guides to consider how the standards for each environmental marketing claim could be clarified and strengthened to better ensure they are supported by real environmental benefits. Additionally, the states argue that the Green Guides should not preclude states and localities from enacting stronger standards.

More specifically, the states advise that the following be included in updated guidance: 

• Voluntary carbon offsets should ensure a reduction in GHG emissions that is additional to any reduction that would likely have occurred without the purchase of the offset.
• The definition of “compostable” should incorporate both scientific standards and the known practical limitations of composting at scale.  
• FTC should make explicit that “recyclable” means what the FTC has intended it to mean and what consumers understand it to mean: that when the consumer properly disposes of a “recyclable” item, it is actually recycled as a matter of course.
• A renewable energy claim should be underwritten by actual environmental benefit, wherein marketers who make renewable energy claims must actually procure and use renewable energy.

In filing the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta was joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

A copy of the comment letter can be found here.

AB 1366 would establish restitution fund to make victims of consumer fraud whole, even if the business that defrauded them goes bankrupt or is insolvent  

SAN DIEGO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Assemblymember Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego), today announced new legislation, Assembly Bill 1366 (AB 1366) to protect victims of predatory businesses found to have violated California consumer protection laws. While current state law allows victims to be eligible for restitution after a judgment has been reached, in many cases of successful prosecutions by the Attorney General, these businesses collapse or become insolvent, leaving no resources to compensate victims for their losses. The legislation, authored by Assemblymember Maienschein and sponsored by Attorney General Bonta, would establish a new Victims of Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund in the state Treasury that would be funded by the penalties paid by businesses that violate the law, and would be used to help make victims whole.

“True justice is not served when victims are left behind,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “While our office continues to hold predatory businesses accountable for misconduct, the success feels hollow when we know that the consumers who were defrauded cannot be made whole because the business has no money left to compensate its victims for their losses. This legislation would create a mechanism to help compensate victims in such situations. I urge our legislature to join the states that have already implemented this simple and commonsense protection for victims.”

“When a predatory business takes advantage of a consumer, it’s only right that the proceeds gained from illegal conduct should go towards compensating victims rather than remaining in the bank accounts of bad actors,” said Assemblymember Brian Maienschein. “AB 1366 will ensure that victims can and will receive restitutions for the wrongdoings they endure by crooked businesses on the brink of collapse."

“The Victims of Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund legislation will be an effective, commonsense addition to California‘s consumer protection toolkit," said Professor Christopher L. Peterson, John J. Flynn Endowed Professor of Law, University of Utah. "AB 1366 is an example of strong leadership in the fight to put consumers first and to stop scammers and predatory companies from profiting through deceit."

Under AB 1366, the restitution would be funded from the ill-gotten gains of businesses that violate California’s consumer protection laws, rather than through taxes or fees charged to law-abiding businesses. Specifically, AB 1366 would allow the Attorney General to seek the remedy of disgorgement in actions brought under the Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law. Disgorgement would require companies that have violated the law to give up the profits that they made through their illegal conduct. These funds would be held in the new Restitution Fund as a future source of funding to help provide restitution to victims who cannot otherwise be made whole by the defendant who defrauded them. 

Attorney General Bonta cites a number of instances where the California Department of Justice successfully obtained judgments against a company where victims were unable to obtain restitution due to insolvency or collapse of the company after prosecution:

• In November 2022, Attorney General Bonta obtained a $20 million judgment against Paul Blanco’s Good Car Company. Ultimately, Paul Blanco became insolvent, went out of business and left its victims with little to no compensation.
• In March 2016, the California Department of Justice obtained a $1.1 billion judgment against Corinthian Colleges, Inc., a predatory chain of for-profit schools. That judgment ordered Corinthian to pay $820 million in restitution to tens of thousands of defrauded students in California, which went unpaid by the company following Corinthian’s bankruptcy filing and liquidation.
• In September 2016, the California Department of Justice secured a multistate judgment against USA Discounters, which had defrauded and illegally discriminated against servicemembers at stores outside military bases across the country. While the Attorney General’s Office secured $7 million in debt relief for more than 4,000 California victims through the bankruptcy, the company — which had closed and liquidated in bankruptcy — had insufficient assets left to make all of its victims whole.  

While California has strong consumer protection laws, other states have stepped ahead in providing this safeguard for consumers. For example, attorneys general in some other states — including New York and Arizona — can obtain disgorgement under their consumer protection laws, but this is not the case under California law. Additionally, the federal government has established the Civil Penalty Fund, allowing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to compensate victims who haven’t received full compensation for their harm through redress paid by the defendant.

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement on a judgment by the Los Angeles County Superior Court finding that Curacao, a retail store chain with 10 locations in Southern California, unlawfully profited from the chain's largely Latino immigrant customer base. The court ruled that Curacao and its owner, Ron Azarkman, illegally sold insurance through unlicensed, unqualified salespeople and barred Curacao and Mr. Azarkman from future misconduct. Additionally, the Court imposed $7,970,175 in civil penalties against both the company and its owner for illegal sales of insurance products.

“Curacao’s unlawful business practices were targeted, pervasive, and showed a disregard for state consumer protection laws and the consumers those laws are intended to protect,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Between today’s decision and the 2021 settlement, Curacao and its owner are finally being held to account for enriching themselves at the expense of the retail chain’s largely low-income, Spanish-speaking, and immigrant customer base. The California Department of Justice will continue to hold those who take advantage of hardworking Californians accountable.”

Curacao and Mr. Azarkman previously agreed to provide more than $10 million in relief, and to be subject to a permanent injunction, in a partial settlement of the Attorney General’s claims. Today’s decision addresses the Attorney General’s remaining claims.  

A copy of the decision is available here.

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the agency’s preliminary determination that the California Commercial Financing Disclosures Law (CFDL) is not preempted by the Federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA). CFDL was enacted in 2018 to help small businesses navigate a complicated commercial financing market by mandating uniform disclosures of certain credit terms in a manner similar to TILA’s requirements, but for commercial transactions that are unregulated by TILA.  

“I applaud CFPB for its acknowledgement that the Truth in Lending Act does not preempt California’s Financing Disclosures Law,” said Attorney General Bonta. “It is vital that businesses and entrepreneurs have the information they need to understand the risks and benefits of borrowing and to have the tools available to find the solution that best meets their needs. I urge the CFPB to move this determination forward and to further clarify its preemption standards.”

The purpose of the CFDL is to provide uniform information on commercial financing so that borrowers can make informed decisions about their commercial credit options and compare different types of commercial financing arrangements across different types of lenders. CFDL was enacted to help small businesses and entrepreneurs who might not have access to traditional commercial loans from banks and would have to resort alternative or “non-traditional” financing from a variety of different types of lenders. Prior to the adoption of the CFDL, there were no disclosure requirements under federal or state law for commercial financing, and it was difficult for commercial borrowers to understand the terms of these arrangements and to compare them to each other and to traditional loans. By mandating a standardized set of disclosures, the CFDL allows small businesses and other borrowers to compare these various financing options and make the best choice for their business.

In the letter, Attorney General Bonta expresses agreement with the CFPB that TILA does not preempt the CFDL because the two laws do not apply to the same types of transactions. TILA only applies to consumer credit transactions, while California’s law applies to credit used for commercial purposes.
Additionally, the Attorney General urges the CFPB to provide additional clarity by better articulating a preemption standard that protects consumers and borrowers, and is consistent with the language of TILA. 

A copy of the comment letter can be found here.

Under Biden Administration plan, an estimated 3.5 million Californians will receive relief

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, along with 21 other state attorneys general, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Biden Administration’s plan to discharge between $10,000 and $20,000 in federal student loan debt for certain lower-income borrowers. This historic one-time program will provide student loan debt relief to approximately 40 million Americans, including more than 3.5 million Californians. In the brief, the attorneys general urge the Supreme Court to allow the Biden Administration to begin providing relief to lower-income student loan borrowers, arguing that the forgiveness plan is an appropriate, targeted, and necessary use of federal authority under the HEROES Act.  

“The historic cancellation of federal student loan debt will ease the burden for millions of Californians weighed down by the cost of their higher education dreams,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This one-time program targets borrowers most impacted by the pandemic – in keeping with federal authority to make changes to student loan payments in response to national emergencies. I applaud the Supreme Court for its swift consideration of this matter, and I urge it to allow the Department of Education to begin providing this sorely needed measure of relief.”

In the brief, the states argue that the Secretary of Education properly exercised his statutory authority to provide targeted debt cancellation for lower-income borrowers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to ameliorate pandemic-related economic hardship and prevent spikes in defaults once student-loan repayments that were paused during the pandemic resume.

The Biden Administration's student loan debt relief program is currently on hold following court decisions halting implementation of the plan. In response to those orders, the Biden Administration has extended the pause on student loan debt repayments until 60 days after the Department of Education is permitted to implement the debt relief program, the litigation is resolved, or June 30, 2023. Californians should visit studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement for updates on the status of the student loan debt relief program.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting student loan borrowers. Last year, Attorney General Bonta obtained a judgment against Ashford University and its parent company Zovio for defrauding California students. The Attorney General also secured a multistate settlement against student loan servicer Navient resolving allegations of misconduct in the servicing and collection of federal student loans. In 2021, Attorney General Bonta announced the successful resolution of litigation against the Department of Education after the Biden Administration committed to fixing the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs. The improvements followed a lawsuit and yearslong advocacy by California and others urging the Department of Education to take robust action to fix the program. 

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, in filing the brief.

A copy of the brief is available here.

SAN FRANCISCO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today, along with the District Attorneys for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, and Marin County, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court against Texas-based Service Corporation International and its subsidiaries doing business as Neptune Society (Neptune). The lawsuit alleges that Neptune — a company offering pre-need cremation service plans for purchase prior to a customer’s death — engaged in unlawful business practices and systematic misconduct in connection with the marketing and sale of those plans. The lawsuit includes allegations that the company broke California law by failing to hold in trust for the benefit of its customers a substantial portion of the money they paid for these plans and that it misled customers concerning this illegal practice.  

“We charge Neptune Society with swindling customers who were simply trying to look out for their families and prepare for one of life's most difficult moments,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Neptune misled these customers and failed to honor its legal obligation. We won’t fail to honor ours. We will hold Neptune accountable, because no one should have to worry about scams when preparing for one’s own death or that of a loved one.”

“When planning for something so personal and emotional as post-death arrangements, consumers should expect that their money is protected and will be there when it’s needed,” said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. “My office remains steadfast in our commitment to protect the public from these types of unlawful business practices.”

“Consumers should expect the money paid toward future funeral needs will be fully protected and available to pay for the necessary services when the need ultimately arises so family and loved ones are not further burdened,” said Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli.

“No one making funeral arrangements for a loved one should have to worry about being cheated,” said Interim San Francisco District Attorney Suzy Loftus. “We have teamed up with the California Attorney General and neighboring DA’s offices to ensure that all consumers in our state are protected from being misled and manipulated when purchasing funeral services.”

California law requires companies selling pre-need funeral plans to hold their customers’ payments in a fully refundable pre-need trust until the service is provided. The complaint alleges that, instead of honoring this requirement, Neptune illegally kept more than $100 million that should have been placed into trust. Neptune did this by steering customers into a plan that bundled cremation services and merchandise, and it then illegally pocketed the money it allocated to merchandise. Neptune deceived consumers regarding whether amounts paid for the plan would be held in trust, as required by California law.

Because of the alleged practice of misallocating funds and the contract manipulation, many of Neptune’s customers failed to receive the full refund to which they were entitled when cancelling their contracts. Thousands of the company’s other California prepaid customers could face the same consequence.

In addition to allegations relating to its misleading bundling plan, the lawsuit alleges that Neptune falsely claimed to use its own crematoriums when in fact it contracted with others. The company also included illegal terms in installment contracts that accelerated payments when customers died and forced customers in California to file lawsuits against Neptune in Florida. Finally, the company failed to provide legally-required disclosures on mailers which advertised seminars that purported to provide information concerning veterans benefits. California law requires these disclosures to ensure that veterans are not misled about their rights.

 A copy of the complaint can be found here.

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit in the Alameda County Superior Court against Paul Blanco’s Good Car Company, a network of motor vehicle dealerships, and its chief executive Paul Blanco (Paul Blanco) alleging that the company engaged in a variety of unlawful business practices. These practices include false advertising regarding credit and discount programs, making false statements on credit applications, and deceiving customers regarding add-on products and additional charges. The company operates a network of seven dealership locations in California and mostly sells used vehicles. Paul Blanco targets vulnerable predominantly low-income consumers with subprime credit. For many of these consumers, a vehicle is a necessity and can be the most expensive one-time purchase they ever make. Paul Blanco’s deceitful and unlawful conduct put these families at risk.

“A car is one of the largest, and most important purchases for many families, allowing people to get to work, school, and connect to their communities,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Far from a good car company, Paul Blanco’s abhorrent conduct put vulnerable families at risk, through deceitful advertising and illegal sales and lending practices. It’s disgraceful and it’s unlawful. Working families make every dollar count. Today’s action is about protecting our families from deception and unlawful practices that swindle these dollars away, leading to unaffordable debt.”

The lawsuit charges Paul Blanco with making false statements on credit applications, including by deceiving lenders about the value of vehicles and the consumer’s ability to repay the loans. This allowed the company to boost their profits through improperly financed sales and increased the risk that the consumers would be saddled with loans that they could not afford. Paul Blanco also tricked customers into paying thousands of dollars for extra add-on products, such as service contracts and GAP insurance, by telling customers that these add-ons were required by law, or by simply concealing the extra charge. These practices increased the cost of an already substantial purchase, almost always made by taking out an expensive loan.

The company also ran numerous false and deceptive advertising campaigns on television, radio and the internet promising falsely low interest rates even for consumers who wouldn’t normally qualify for such rates to lure unsuspecting consumers to their dealership.

Attorney General Becerra stands strong to protect California consumers. In October 2017, he announced a lawsuit against the retailer Curacao for unlawfully preying on consumers across California. In November 2017, Attorney General Becerra sued for-profit Ashford University for allegations that the school engaged in unlawful business practices. Attorney General Becerra sued Navient Corporation in June 2018, charging the student loan servicer with misconduct in the servicing and collection of federal student loans. In April 2019, Attorney General Becerra secured $4.6 million in a settlement with Advantage Rent A Car and its affiliate E-Z Rent-A-Car to resolve allegations the company overbilled consumers for rental car damages. In June 2019, Attorney General Becerra sued telecommunications giants Sprint and T-Mobile to block an unlawful merger, which would reduce competition and increase costs for consumers. Attorney General Becerra has also challenged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including denouncing the agency’s rollback of the Payday Lending Rule on February 6, 2019, and submitting a comment letter opposing the CFPB's proposed Debt Collection Practices Rule on September 19, 2019.

Click here for a copy of the Paul Blanco complaint.

Consumers who wish to file a complaint about Paul Blanco may do so at http://www.oag.ca.gov/report.

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today, as part of a nationwide coalition of 51 attorneys general, announced an agreement with 12 telecommunications (telecom) providers on a set of principles intended to limit and prevent robocalls. The providers have agreed to incorporate these principles into their business practices. This agreement comes from the work of the coalition of attorneys general who in 2018 formed the Robocall Technologies Working Group. The group collaborated with telecom providers to make it more difficult for scammers to use robocall technologies to intrude upon and defraud consumers.

All 50 states, and the District of Columbia have joined this agreement with the following telecom companies: AT&T, Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Consolidated, Frontier, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, and Windstream.

“We applaud the efforts of these telecommunications companies to stop unwanted robocalls,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Robocalls initiated from fake numbers are more than just a nuisance – they’re illegal. Today’s announcement is a useful step toward eliminating these types of calls, which far too often lead to identify theft and financial loss. Consumers must continue to be vigilant. However, today’s commitment by our industry partners is a step in the right direction to provide every landline and wireless customer with access to free and effective call-blocking tools.”

Illegal and unwanted robocalls harm consumers and interrupt our daily lives. Consumer fraud often originates with a robocall. Robocalls and telemarketing calls are currently the number one source of consumer complaints to both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Comission (FTC). During 2018, according to the FTC, consumers reported a total loss of $429 million as a result of these phone-based frauds.

The efforts of the Robocall Technologies Working Group represent a positive step towards combatting scams perpetrated through robocalls. The adopted principles commit the providers to:

• Offer free call blocking and labeling to stop robocalls before they reach consumers;
• Implement STIR/SHAKEN to ensure that numbers are not illegally spoofed and to prevent scammers from providing a number they are not authorized to use;
• Analyze and monitor network traffic to identify and monitor patterns consistent with robocalls;
• Investigate suspicious calls and calling patterns and seek to identify the party and take appropriate action;
• Confirm the identity of commercial customers by collecting information such as location, contact persons, state or country of incorporation, federal tax ID, and nature of the customer’s business;
• Require traceback cooperation in call interconnection contracts by seeking language requiring voice service providers to identify the upstream carrier from which a suspected illegal robocall entered its network or to where the call originated in its network;
• Cooperate in traceback investigations by dedicating resources to respond to requests from law enforcement and the US Telecom’s Industry Traceback Group, so that scammers can be identified and prosecuted; and
• Communicate with state attorneys general about scams and trends in illegal robocalling.

The Attorney General has also repeatedly called on the FCC to take action to stop robocalls, and he continues to urge the FCC to take actions consistent with today's agreement between state attorneys general and telecommunications carriers. That includes support for the FCC's orders authorizing carriers to implement call blocking systems, as well as support for the FCC's stated intention to mandate the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN by the end of 2019 if it is not voluntarily implemented. 

A copy of today’s agreement can be found here.

Leads coalition opposing the merger, which would lead to reduced competition and higher prices

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, leading a coalition of 14 attorneys general from across the nation, today expressed concern about a newly announced deal — approved, in principle, by the United States Department of Justice (U.S. DOJ) — supporting the proposed megamerger between telecommunications giants T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corporation.

“Here in California and across our coalition of states, our concerns with this merger have been, are, and continue to be about the harms posed by over-consolidation and diminished market competition,” said Attorney General Becerra. “A marketplace with fewer active competitors drives up costs, reduces consumer choice, and thwarts innovation. We intend to be prepared to go to trial to fight for a fair, competitive, and equitable marketplace for consumers nationwide.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and New York Attorney General Letitia James led the filing of the complaint blocking the merger on June 11 in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York — alleging that the merger of two of the four national mobile network operators would harm mobile subscribers nationwide by reducing access to affordable, reliable wireless service, and that it would hit lower-income and minority communities particularly hard. The coalition today reaffirmed its commitment to opposing this merger, which would reduce competition and increase prices for consumers.

T-Mobile currently has more than 79 million subscribers, and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. Sprint Corp. currently has more than 54 million subscriber, and is a majority-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp.

The U.S. DOJ indicated earlier today it would approve the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint based on promises made by the two companies, including an agreement to divest Sprint’s prepaid subscription service and potentially a slice of its wireless spectrum to satellite TV operator DISH. Though DISH has never owned any kind of mobile wireless business and has no experience building or operating a nationwide mobile wireless network, both T-Mobile and Sprint claim that this deal will create a fourth national network operator that will preserve a competitive market for consumers.

The states continue to have serious concerns with the merger and whether the deal with DISH would meaningfully address the loss of competition otherwise caused by this megamerger. Among those concerns:

• DISH has never shown any inclination or ability to build a nationwide mobile network on its own and has repeatedly broken assurances to the Federal Communications Commission about deployment of its spectrum;
• DISH does not have the network to operate as an independent competitor, like Sprint does today, and will, instead, remain reliant on the T-Mobile network for the foreseeable future; and
• T-Mobile and Sprint are asking Americans to trust that this new mega-corporation will act directly against its own economic interests by helping transform DISH into an independent competitor that rivals this new company.

The states remain committed to protecting competition in the marketplace and lower prices for consumers. In addition to Attorney General Becerra, the plaintiffs currently include New York, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Consumers may begin filing claims at www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today encouraged consumers to begin the process of applying for restitution and submitting documentation for claims from the Equifax Settlement. The settlement resolved allegations that the credit reporting agency improperly exposed the personal information of 147 million consumers, including 15 million Californians, after a massive data breach in 2017. Data exposed by the breach included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some instances, driver’s license numbers. Equifax did not disclose the breach, which lasted from mid-May through July 2017, until September 2017. The settlement requires Equifax to pay up to $425 million into a restitution fund and  $175 million in state penalties, and offer benefits like credit monitoring and consumer assistance for eligible customers.

“On top of holding Equifax accountable for one of the most devastating data breaches to face our nation, we have now recovered hundreds of millions of dollars to help our families who fell victim,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Our credit status impacts nearly every aspect of our lives – from purchasing a home or a car to finding a job. The same Americans who had to immediately protect themselves from fraudsters or identify thieves will have to be vigilant for the rest of their lives. We encourage every eligible person to apply for the relief they are entitled to as part of our settlement.”

Depending on eligibility, consumers may receive one or more of the following:

• Cash reimbursement for time or money spent trying to avoid or recover from fraud or identity theft because of the breach, and out of pocket losses resulting from the data breach;
• Free credit monitoring services for up to 10 years, or, alternatively, a payment of up to $125 for buying a different credit monitoring service;
• Reimbursement for up to 25 percent of the cost of Equifax credit monitoring paid for in the year leading up the data breach announcement; and
• At least seven years of free identity restoration services to help remedy the effects of identity theft and fraud.

Consumers may visit www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com to file a claim, learn more about eligible benefits, determine whether their information was impacted by the breach, or contact the settlement administrator. The webpage, documentation, and the claims process are managed by the settlement administrator, not by Equifax. Affected consumers may also call the settlement administrator at 1-833-759-2982 and request to receive information by mail.