Equifax - Inquiry Disputes Class Action Settlement

Credit Reporting · Claims Open

Current Status

Claims are open. The claim deadline is November 29, 2026; the notice does not specify a time zone. The court has preliminarily approved the settlement and scheduled the final approval hearing for December 10, 2026, and no payments will be made until final approval is granted and any appeals are resolved. Class members identified from Equifax's records were sent a notice with a Claim Number and PIN, and they need to file a claim to be paid.

What Changed Recently?

Equifax Information Services LLC agreed to a $30 million settlement that resolves four class actions over how it handled consumers' disputes of hard inquiries: Hines v. Equifax in the Eastern District of New York, Rivera v. Equifax and Neubauer v. Equifax in the Northern District of Georgia (Neubauer was transferred there from Oregon), and Oblack v. Equifax in New Jersey. The court overseeing Hines preliminarily approved the settlement, notices went out to class members, and the claim window is now open.

A hard inquiry is the entry a credit bureau records when a lender pulls a consumer's report after a credit application. The plaintiffs allege that when consumers disputed inquiries they said were made without a permissible purpose, Equifax did not contact the company that pulled the report or remove the inquiry, and instead sent some consumers a letter saying inquiries are a factual record of file access and to contact the creditor. They claim this violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and similar New York and New Jersey laws. Equifax denies the allegations and denies any wrongdoing, and no court has decided who is right.

Who Qualifies?

The settlement class, about three million people, covers U.S. residents whom Equifax's records place in one of two groups:

• Certified Group (about one million people): Equifax received a mailed letter disputing one or more hard inquiries between October 4, 2016 and March 27, 2026, coded the dispute as "not mine" or "unauthorized," and sent back a response containing the "inquiries are a factual record of file access" language.
• General Dispute Group: Equifax received one or more disputes of a hard inquiry, by any method, between August 31, 2021 and March 27, 2026.

A New York Subclass of about 35,000 people sits inside the Certified Group: people with a New York address who were sent that response between November 27, 2017 and September 10, 2024. Some New York Subclass members already received a notice about the Hines case in August or November 2025.

Membership is determined from Equifax's records, not by self-identification. Logging in with the notice's Claim Number and PIN shows which group a class member is in.

How Much Can You Get?

Payments are pro rata shares of what remains of the $30 million fund after administration costs and any court-approved attorneys' fees (up to $10 million), litigation expenses (up to $260,000) and service awards to the class representatives (up to $60,000 in total). Class counsel's estimates, based on typical claims rates in similar cases, are:

• General Dispute Group: about $100
• Certified Group: about $300
• New York Subclass: about $400

These are estimates, not fixed amounts. The actual payments depend on how many people file valid claims and may be lower or higher. The distribution plan in the settlement agreement gives priority to the Certified Group and a preferred payment to the New York Subclass.

What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?

No receipts or credit reports are required, but the online claim form opens only with the Claim Number and PIN printed on the mailed or emailed notice, entered exactly as shown. A paper claim form is also available through the settlement website.