Verizon Class Action Says Credit Checks Pulled Without Consent

A recent class action lawsuit against Verizon claims that the cellular company checks consumer credit reports without permission.

Plaintiff Scott Mathews says he does not have an account with Verizon and has never inquired about their services or initiated opening an account with the company.

Despite this complete lack of any business relationship, Verizon allegedly checked Mathews’ credit without his consent.

In September 2018, Mathews says he was routinely checking his credit report when he discovered that Verizon had performed a credit check on him.

Later that month, Mathews was allegedly “further bewildered” when he received a letter from Verizon that an account had been opened in his name.

Mathews states that he never opened an account with the company and was forced to “expend time, resources, and effort” to resolve the situation that he claims was not his fault.

The Verizon class action alleges that Verizon acknowledged that Mathews himself was not responsible for the opening of the account. Despite this fact, Verizon reportedly obtained Mathews’ credit report without his authorization.

According to Mathews, Verizon violates the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act by pulling credit information on consumers without their consent. The law requires businesses to obtain authorization from consumers before pulling credit reports.

Mathews argues that these violations were “willful” and that Verizon should have known that they did not have authorization to pull credit information from himself and other consumers.

“Plaintiff was not a Verizon customer and had never sought to open an account with Verizon,” the Verizon class action lawsuit claims. “Defendant had absolutely no permissible purpose for performing any credit inquiry on Plaintiff whatsoever.”

The issue experienced by Mathews is reportedly widespread. The Verizon class action references several online complaints from consumers who allegedly had accounts opened with the cellular company without their consent.

Mathews argues that Verizon is supposed to have safeguards to prevent against the fraudulent opening of accounts. Safeguards reportedly include the presentation of photo identification and other processes to ensure that the wrong consumer doesn’t have their credit information pulled.

The Verizon class action also claims that Mathews and other consumers have suffered concrete injuries from the unauthorized credit pulling. These injuries reportedly include invasion of privacy, informational injuries, reduced credit scores, and an increased risk of identity theft.

Mathews seeks to hold Verizon accountable for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and aims to represent a Class of individuals who had a credit inquiry performed by Verizon without authorization within the last five years.

Several other Verizon class action lawsuits have accused the company of mishandling consumer information. In May 2019, the company was accused of selling consumer location data without their consent. In July 2019, a consumer claimed that Verizon mishandled a debt that resulted from identity theft.

Did you have your credit checked by Verizon without your consent? Let us know in the comment section below!

Mathews and the proposed Class are represented by Richard Kim and David M. Promisloff of The Kim Law Firm LLC.

The Verizon Credit Check Class Action Lawsuit is Mathews v. Verizon Communications Inc., Case No. 3:19-cv-21442, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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