If you connected your bank account to financial apps like Robinhood, Acorns, Venmo, American Express, Coinbase and Credit Karma, you made be entitled to money, according to Fast Company.
Plaid, a connecting service with these financial apps and 5,500 others, settled a class-action lawsuit which accused the company of collecting more financial data from users than necessary,
- The suit alleged that Plaid collected users’ bank login information “through its user interface, known as ‘Plaid Link,’ which had the look and feel of the user’s own bank account login screen.”
- But in reality, users were filling out their information “directly to Plaid.”
Plaid denies claims
Plaid said in a statement to the Deseret News that it was transparent with its users.
- “The claims raised in the lawsuit do not reflect our practices. We help consumers safely connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they rely on. As Plaid has evolved from backend infrastructure for developers to also providing front-end solutions, we have become an industry leader in consumer privacy practices,” Plaid spokesperson told Deseret News.
- “We do not, nor have we ever, sold data. We make our role and practices clear, and provide services that give consumers control over how and where they share their data. We believe settlement of this matter is best in light of the cost and burden associated with protracted litigation.”
- “Moving forward, we will continue to focus on empowering millions of people with control over the data they share across the thousands of applications Plaid supports”
Plaid has also launched the Plaid Portal, a new privacy tool to manage connections to financial apps and banks.
“This is unrelated to the settlement, though we did agree to feature it more prominently on our website as part of the agreement.” the company added in an email.
How to file a claim?
Now, Plaid will pay $58 million to those affected. Since millions of people have interacted with the service, the payout looks slim.
- To receive money, you must be a U.S. citizen with a bank account connected to any of the financial apps that redirected you to Plaid between Jan. 1, 2013, and Nov. 19, 2021. You can look through the list of apps on the settlement’s site.
- Other popular apps include Chime, Mint, Betterment and NerdWallet.
- If you check your inbox or spam, you may find an email about this settlement already waiting for you. All you have to do is submit a claim by April 28, 2022, by filling out a form with your name, address as well as a list of apps that linked your bank account.