If Equifax reported a wrong credit score for you in the spring of 2022, you are likely a member of a $100 million class action settlement, and you have a decision to make before November 27, 2026. If the wrong score did not cost you anything, the choice is simple: file a claim. If it cost you a loan, a lower rate or an apartment, a settlement share may be worth less than your own claim, and the time to decide that is before the opt-out deadline, not after it.
This is what happened, what the settlement does, and how to think about the choice.
What went wrong at Equifax in 2022
For about three weeks in the spring of 2022, a coding error in Equifax’s systems produced wrong credit scores and credit attributes for consumers whose reports lenders and others pulled. The settlement notice describes the affected period as March 17 through April 8, 2022. The New York Attorney General, who investigated the same error, described it as a three-week period that ended April 8, 2022, and said that lenders and insurers relied on the wrong scores, which led to higher costs for consumers.
New York settled first. On January 14, 2025, the Attorney General announced that Equifax would pay $725,000 to resolve the state’s investigation. The announcement said the error gave “over 77,000 New Yorkers” inaccurate credit scores, and that Equifax had offered to reimburse lenders for interest-rate adjustments.
The $100 million class settlement
The national case is In re Equifax Fair Credit Reporting Act Litigation, No. 1:22-cv-3072, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The court granted preliminary approval of a $100 million settlement in August 2026. Class counsel describe a class of roughly four million people and a non-reversionary fund, meaning money that is not claimed does not go back to Equifax.
According to the settlement notice:
- Who is in the class: people in the United States whose credit score or attributes, affected by the coding error, were reported by Equifax to a third party between March 17 and April 8, 2022.
- Claim deadline: December 28, 2026.
- Deadline to opt out (exclude yourself) or to object: November 27, 2026.
- Final approval hearing: January 22, 2027, at 2:00 p.m., in Atlanta.
- Official website and phone: www.EquifaxFairCreditReportingSettlement.com and 1-888-808-1542.
Payments come from the fund after attorney’s fees, costs and administration expenses are taken out, and are shared among the people who file valid claims. The amount any one person receives will not be known until the claims are counted.
Your three choices
The notice sets out what each choice means.
File a claim. You receive a share of the fund, and you give up the right to sue Equifax yourself over the coding issue.
Do nothing. You receive no payment, and you are still bound by the settlement. You cannot bring your own case against Equifax about the coding issue.
Opt out. You receive no payment from the settlement, and you keep the right to bring your own lawsuit against Equifax about the coding issue.
Doing nothing is the only choice that leaves you with neither money nor a claim.
When opting out may be worth considering
If the wrong score did not change an outcome for you, a claim is the sensible choice. The calculation is different if the wrong score cost you something specific and documented during that window. Examples include:
- a mortgage, auto loan or credit card application denied in late March or early April 2022;
- a loan approved at a higher interest rate than you would otherwise have received;
- an apartment application refused, or a larger deposit required.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows an individual consumer to recover actual damages caused by a negligent violation (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). For a willful violation, the Act allows actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, plus punitive damages the court allows (§ 1681n). Both sections allow costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. A settlement share is the same pro rata amount whatever happened to you. An individual claim is measured by what happened to you. Whether a particular person’s losses are worth more than a settlement share depends on the documents: the denial letter, the loan estimate, the rate lock, the interest you paid.
The deadlines that matter if you opt out
Two deadlines apply, and both are close.
- The settlement’s own deadline. An exclusion request must be submitted by November 27, 2026, following the instructions on the settlement website. After that date, the opt-out choice is gone.
- The FCRA’s outer time limit. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, a lawsuit must be brought within two years of discovering the violation and no later than five years after it occurred, whichever is earlier. For a report sent between March 17 and April 8, 2022, five years runs out between March 17 and April 8, 2027. Whether the class action paused any part of the clock for a person who opts out is a legal question that depends on the facts and the court. Do not assume it did. Our guide to the FCRA statute of limitations explains how the two clocks work.
What to gather now
If you think the error cost you something, collect:
- any denial or adverse action letter from March or April 2022;
- loan estimates and closing disclosures that show your rate;
- any letter from a lender or from Equifax about the coding issue;
- your own credit reports from that period, if you kept them.
Then decide before November 27, with the documents in hand.
We handle credit reporting errors under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including claims against Equifax. You pay nothing unless we win.
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Related reading on this site: Equifax credit report errors · the FCRA statute of limitations · suing a credit bureau · FCRA lawsuits · what a willful FCRA violation is · FCRA class actions · credit reporting errors · when a credit dispute is denied · Equifax’s $30 million hard inquiry settlement · TransUnion’s $8.31 million bankruptcy remark settlement.
Sources
- Settlement notice, In re Equifax Fair Credit Reporting Act Litigation, No. 1:22-cv-3072-LMM-CCB (N.D. Ga.)
- DiCello Levitt, announcement of the $100 million settlement and preliminary approval (August 2026)
- New York State Office of the Attorney General, “Attorney General James Secures $725,000 from Equifax for Harming Consumers Through Inaccurate Credit Scores” (January 14, 2025), and the Assurance of Discontinuance
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681n, § 1681o, § 1681p
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