Target Data Breach Settlement: What It Paid and Where It Stands

Who qualifies

• The class covered U.S. consumers whose credit or debit card information, or whose personal information such as name, address, phone number, or email address, was compromised in Target's 2013 data breach.
• Claimants with documentation — unreimbursed fraudulent charges, bank fees, credit-monitoring costs, replacement card fees, lost time, or costs from identity theft traced to the breach — could recover up to $10,000 each.
• Claimants without documentation received an equal share of whatever remained after documented claims, attorneys' fees, and administration costs were paid. That worked out to roughly $40 per person.
• Only claims filed by the July 31, 2015 deadline were eligible. No late claims were accepted and the window was never reopened.
• Shoppers who were not customers during the 2013 breach window, and later Target customers, were never covered by this settlement.

Target settlement status — what happened to the money

1. 1

   The fund is distributed and the case is closed

   Payments went to claimants after the Eighth Circuit affirmed the settlement on June 13, 2018. By 2021 the $10 million consumer fund had been fully distributed or escheated — turned over to state unclaimed-property offices for checks that were never cashed — and the multidistrict litigation was closed with prejudice.

2. 2

   Why documented claims got so much more

   The settlement paid proven losses first, up to $10,000 per person, then divided what was left equally among everyone else who filed. Relatively few people could document breach-related losses, so those claims were paid in full while the much larger group of undocumented claimants received roughly $40 apiece.

3. 3

   There is no late claim to file

   The July 31, 2015 deadline passed more than a decade ago and the fund no longer exists. Any website inviting you to file a Target data breach claim today is not an official settlement site. Never enter your Social Security number or card details to "claim" it.

4. 4

   If you think a 2015 check was never cashed

   Uncashed settlement checks are escheated to the state where the claimant last lived. If you filed a claim in 2015 and believe you never received payment, search your state's unclaimed-property database — that is where the money would now sit, not with Target or the administrator.

5. 5

   The other Target settlements paid institutions, not shoppers

   Target also paid $18.5 million in May 2017 to settle with 47 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia — the largest multistate breach settlement at the time — plus separate deals with banks, credit unions, and card networks to cover reissuing cards. All of that money went to governments and financial institutions. Only the $10 million consumer fund paid individual shoppers.

6. 6

   Breach settlements now pay far more — if you file

   Later breach settlements have paid substantially better than $40. ClaimBee scans your email for the breach-notification letters companies send, matches them to open settlements, and reminds you before the deadline, so a $40 residual is not the best you can do next time.

Frequently asked questions