If you disputed a hard inquiry with Equifax between August 31, 2021 and March 27, 2026, you are probably a member of a $30 million class action settlement, and you have until November 20, 2026 to decide whether to stay in it. For most people, filing a claim is the sensible choice. If an inquiry you did not authorize stayed on your Equifax report after you disputed it, and that cost you something, read on before you file. A settlement share may be worth less than your own claim, and once the opt-out deadline passes, the choice is gone.
What the case is about
The lead case is Hines v. Equifax Information Services LLC, No. 1:19-cv-06701, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Three related cases (Rivera, Oblack and Neubauer) are resolved by the same settlement.
The plaintiffs allege that when consumers disputed hard inquiries they did not recognize, Equifax did not reinvestigate. Instead, they say, it sent a form response stating that inquiries are “a factual record of file access” and told consumers to contact the company that made the inquiry. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a credit bureau to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation of disputed information and to notify the source of the dispute (15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)–(2)). These are the plaintiffs’ allegations. A settlement resolves them without a trial.
Equifax’s dispute handling has been questioned before. In January 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Equifax to pay a $15 million civil penalty after finding, among other things, that it failed to properly reinvestigate disputed information.
Who is in the settlement
The settlement covers three groups:
- Certified Group: people for whom Equifax received a mailed letter disputing a hard inquiry between October 4, 2016 and March 27, 2026, coded as “not mine” or “unauthorized,” and who were sent the response stating that inquiries are a factual record of file access.
- General Dispute Group: people for whom Equifax received any dispute of a hard inquiry between August 31, 2021 and March 27, 2026.
- New York Subclass: Certified Group members with a New York address who received that response between November 27, 2017 and September 10, 2024.
The settlement fund is $30 million. Class counsel may ask the court for up to $10 million in attorney’s fees, plus costs, from the fund. What remains is divided among people who file valid claims using a points system: one point for the General Dispute Group, three for the Certified Group, and four for Certified Group members in the New York Subclass. The dollar amount of a point will not be known until the claims are counted.
The dates
- Deadline to opt out (exclude yourself) or to object: November 20, 2026.
- Claim deadline: November 29, 2026.
- Final approval hearing: December 10, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn.
- Official website: www.EquifaxDisputeClassAction.com.
Your three choices
File a claim. You receive a share of the fund, and you give up your own claims covered by the settlement.
Do nothing. You receive no payment, and you are still bound by the settlement. You cannot bring your own case about the claims it covers.
Opt out. You receive no payment, and you keep the right to bring your own lawsuit.
The settlement agreement releases claims “relating to hard inquiry disputes,” including claims under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1) and (2) and § 1681e(a), and state laws like them. If your Equifax file had other problems as well, such as accounts opened in your name, read the release on the settlement website, or have a lawyer read it, before you decide what it covers.
When opting out may be worth considering
An inquiry you never authorized is often the first visible sign of identity theft. If you disputed one with Equifax, the inquiry stayed, and something concrete followed, your own claim may be worth more than a pro rata share. Examples include:
- a credit application denied, or approved at a higher rate, while the inquiry was on your file;
- fraudulent accounts or further inquiries that followed the first one;
- time, expense and out-of-pocket costs spent trying to get the inquiry removed.
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, it 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 depends on your group, not on what happened to you. An individual claim is measured by what happened to you.
The time limit if you opt out
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, an FCRA lawsuit must be filed within two years after you discover the violation, and no later than five years after it happened. Many of the disputes in this settlement date from 2021 to 2024, so for some people the two-year period may already have run. Whether the class cases paused that clock for someone 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 you have more than a settlement claim, collect:
- Equifax’s response to your dispute, especially any letter that says inquiries are a factual record of file access;
- your dispute letter and any proof of mailing;
- any denial or adverse action letter from the period when the inquiry was on your report;
- any identity theft report or police report you filed.
Then decide before November 20, with the documents in hand.
We handle credit reporting errors under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including claims against Equifax over unauthorized inquiries and identity theft. You pay nothing unless we win.
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Related reading on this site: Equifax’s $100 million credit score settlement · Equifax credit report errors · unauthorized credit inquiries · identity theft and your credit report · when a credit dispute is denied · suing a credit bureau · what a willful FCRA violation is · FCRA class actions · TransUnion’s $8.31 million bankruptcy remark settlement.
Sources
- Settlement Agreement and Release, Hines v. Equifax Information Services LLC, No. 1:19-cv-06701-RPK-JAM (E.D.N.Y.), and the amended complaint (March 27, 2026)
- Court-approved class notice and settlement website, EquifaxDisputeClassAction.com
- ClassAction.org, “$30M Equifax Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuits Over Inquiry Dispute Investigations” (October 1, 2026)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, In re Equifax Inc. and Equifax Information Services LLC, No. 2025-CFPB-0002 (January 17, 2025); American Banker, “CFPB orders Equifax to pay $15 million for credit reporting errors”
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681e, § 1681i, § 1681n, § 1681o, § 1681p
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