Experian Fair Credit Reporting Act Class Action Settlement Announced

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One of the three major credit bureaus has agreed to an Experian Fair Credit Reporting Act class action settlement resolving plaintiffs’ claims that the company requested an unfair amount of information in order to process disputes.

According to the motion for approval of the FCRA class action settlement, it is alleged that Experian required that consumers submit their social security number as part of the dispute process. However, the class action attorneys argued that this was not part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and was unnecessary if a consumer was able to provide other information that would help the company track down the records.

As a result, any of these more than 58,000 Class Members who opt in will be able to receive a number of benefits as a result of the prospective Experian class action settlement. For one, they will be able to take advantage of a credit monitoring service that allows them to unlimited copies of their credit report, alerts of new inquiries and newly opened the counts among others. In addition, Experian will offer all of these consumers a $2 million identity theft product guarantee to Class Members residing in every state except New York.

The FCRA class action settlement also requires that Experian do its utmost to ensure that when future disputes are filed, the company will not require a full Social Security number or any other additional information unless it cannot locate the consumer’s file or if the dispute is made online.

In addition, for the 90 days following the approval of the Experian class action settlement, Class Members will be able to take advantage of a dedicated dispute process via mail or phone number details of which will be released as part of the settlement notice if the agreement is approved.

One additional point that the plaintiffs’ counsel took special care to address was the very narrow nature of the Experian class action settlement. Class Members are only those who received a letter with a “paragraph 66” explained further in the settlement. In addition it “only releases the class members’ statutory and punitive damages claims and does not include a release of any claims for actual damages.” It allows people who seek damages for disputes regarding their credit reports numerous other legal remedies, according to the motion seeking approval.

The plaintiffs are represented by Casey S. Nash, Matthew J. Erausquin and Leonard A. Bennett of Consumer Litigation Associates PC.

The Experian Fair Credit Reporting Act Class Action Lawsuit is Gilbert James, et al. v. Experian Information Solutions Inc., Case No. 12-cv-00902, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.