Equifax Class Action Lawsuit Settlement

Credit-rating giant Equifax has agreed to a class action lawsuit settlement for allegedly misrepresenting the methods it uses to confirm the accuracy of credit-report items disputed by consumers. Over 42,000 consumers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia will receive benefits under the Equifax settlement.

The Equifax settlement was reached in response to several class action lawsuits filed against the company in 2007 and 2010 that accused Equifax of falsely representing to consumers who had disputed the accuracy of public records information reported about them by Equifax that it had directly contacted the original source of the public records and taken the appropriate steps necessary to remove the inaccurate items.

According to one of the Equifax class action lawsuits, filed in New Jersey, Equifax violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by sending letters that falsely told consumers that it confirmed the accuracy of disputed public-record information by contacting the source directly. In reality, however, Equifax never directly contacted the original source of a public record when investigating a consumer dispute, and used a third-party company to investigate the disputed information.

“Additionally, if Equifax fails to remove an inaccurate public record from a consumers’ credit report, Equifax advises the consumer to take up his or her dispute with the ‘source’ of the public record. As such, consumers who are the subject of an inaccurate Equifax public record are thrust into an endless maze of wasting time and energy in an effort to ascertain the true source of the inaccurate public record being reported about them. Equifax never discloses the true sources of the public records it reports about them,” the class action states.

Under the terms of the Equifax class action settlement, Equifax will revise the letters it sends to consumers who dispute the accuracy of their credit reports. It will also provide over 42,000 consumers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia with complimentary credit-monitoring services for 18 months, worth about $13 million.

Class Members of the Equifax class action settlement include all consumers in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey who were sent a letter by Equifax which contained language substantially similar to the letter at issue in this litigation, beginning September 28, 2005 for Pennsylvania Class Members; March 21, 2006 for New Jersey Class Members; and February 26, 2008 for Virginia Class Members through June 6, 2010.

All Class Members will automatically receive a free Equifax credit monitoring service called Credit Watch Gold for a period of 18 months following preliminary approval of the settlement, which was granted October 21, 2010.

You can find more details on all the settlement benefits in the Equifax class action at www.EquifaxClassAction.info.