Equifax Class Action Settlement Of Consumer Public Record Dispute Class Action Lawsuits

Equifax Consumers Settle Class Action Lawsuits Against Equifax Over Consumer Public Record Disputes.

A class action settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Equifax Information Services LLC (“Equifax” or “Defendant”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (styled Richard Chaejian v. Equifax Information Services LLC, Case No. 07-2211) alleging, among other things, that Equifax willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq., as amended, by sending letters that misrepresent what Equifax does when a consumer disputes a public record, according to the Equifax class action lawsuit settlement agreement.

The Equifax settlement class reportedly includes:

All persons in the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia and the State of New Jersey, who were sent the letter at issue in the litigation by Equifax that contained language substantially similar to the letter attached to the complaint filed in the Chakejian Action, beginning September 28, 2005 for Class members in the Chakejian Action, March 21, 2006 for Class members in the Summerfield Action, and February 26, 2008 for Class members in the Webb Action through June 6, 2010,
seeking statutory damages only for an alleged willful violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(6)(b)(iii) and 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(6)(A).

The Settlement Class reportedly does not include: (i) persons who have already settled or otherwise compromised their claims against Equifax; and (ii) persons who Opt-Out.

Under the Equifax settlement, Equifax will reportedly provide Settlement Class Members eighteen (18) months of Credit Watch Gold, a single bureau credit file monitoring service, or an equivalent product, at no charge to all Settlement Class Members. Credit Watch Gold, or its equivalent product, will reportedly include at least the following benefits: (a) daily monitoring of a consumer’s Equifax credit file providing alerts for key changes; (b) unlimited access to the consumer’s Equifax consumer credit file; (c) free access to the automated fraud alerts feature; and (d) identity theft insurance, and will be of comparable retail value.

Equifax has also reportedly agreed to change the Consumer Letter at issue as follows:

(a) Equifax will not represent that the government and/or any court or courthouse is a furnisher of information in response to a consumer’s dispute or in Equifax’s correspondence to consumers reflecting the results of an investigation or reinvestigation;
(b) Equifax will not represent that the government and/or any court or courthouse was contacted “directly” by Equifax in connection with any consumer’s dispute;
(c) Equifax will not represent that the government and/or any court or courthouse actually investigated a consumer’s dispute;
(d) Equifax will provide to consumers, with the investigation results, a notice that the consumer may request a description of the reinvestigation process and the contact information of any furnisher contacted by Equifax in that reinvestigation, in accordance with FCRA § 1681i(a)(6)(B)(iii).

For more information on the Equifax public record dispute class action lawsuit settlement, visit the Settlement Web:site for Chakejian v. Equifax Information Services, LLC Class Action:

www.equifaxclassaction.info

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