Your Long-Forgotten Yahoo Email Could Get You Up to $375. Here’s Why

Did you have a Yahoo email address between 2012 and 2016? Then listen up, because you could be eligible for a piece of Yahoo’s $50 million settlement pie.

Yahoo has agreed to pay $50 million in damages and provide two years of free credit monitoring services to 200 million people whose information was stolen in the largest security breach in history.

If you thought Equifax was bad, an estimated 2.9 billion accounts were compromised in this breach in 2013 and 2014. Yahoo didn’t disclose the breach until 2016.

How much can you expect to receive if you’re one of the select 200 million?

Yahoo will compensate account holders $25 per hour for the trouble it caused them, i.e., the time it took to deal with any identity theft issues. Those with documented losses can ask for up to 15 hours of lost time, or $375. Those who can’t document losses can file claims seeking up to five hours, or $125.

But don’t go looking for your check yet. You’ll have to wait on the federal court’s approval of the settlement, which is scheduled for Nov. 29.

Once the settlement’s approved, you’ll need to fill out a claim to receive compensation. Yahoo will notify eligible U.S. citizens through email, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Just so you don’t forget how much information Yahoo still has on you.

Jen Smith is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She gives money-saving and debt-payoff tips on Instagram at @savingwithspunk.