If a TransUnion credit report between January 2020 and January 2023 said one of your accounts was part of a bankruptcy, and you never filed for bankruptcy (or your only filing was more than ten years earlier), you may be a member of an $8.31 million class action settlement. The deadline to file a claim, and the deadline to opt out, is October 30, 2026. For most people a claim is the sensible choice. If that bankruptcy remark cost you a loan, a mortgage or an apartment, read on first. Once October 30 passes, the choice to keep your own claim is gone.
What the case is about
The case is Brooks v. Trans Union, LLC, No. 2:22-cv-00048, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The lawsuit alleges that TransUnion sold credit reports that put bankruptcy remarks on individual accounts (for example, a note that the account was closed or included in a bankruptcy) when TransUnion’s own public-record section showed no bankruptcy filing for that person. The claims are brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s accuracy requirement, 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b), and its rule against putting deleted information back on a report without proper procedures, § 1681i(a)(5)(B). A settlement resolves the claims without a trial.
Who is in the settlement
The court’s order defines the class as people with a U.S. address about whom TransUnion sold a consumer report to a third party between January 6, 2020 and January 31, 2023 that included a bankruptcy remark on an account, with no bankruptcy record in the public-record section of the same report, and for whom there is no government-held record of a bankruptcy filing within ten years before the report.
The class is divided into two groups:
- No Bankruptcy Group: people for whom no public bankruptcy record could be found at all (about 21,000 people).
- Aged Bankruptcy Group: people whose only bankruptcy record was filed more than ten years before the report (about 36,000 people).
The money
The settlement fund is $8.31 million. Class counsel may ask for up to one-third of it ($2.77 million) in attorney’s fees, plus up to $308,000 in expenses, and the named plaintiff may receive a service award of up to $50,000.
- No Bankruptcy Group: an automatic payment of $100, with no claim form required. Members who also file a claim receive an additional share of the claims fund.
- Aged Bankruptcy Group: a payment only if a claim is filed.
Claims are paid pro rata using points: three for a No Bankruptcy Group claimant, one for an Aged Bankruptcy Group claimant. The amount of each share will not be known until the claims are counted.
The dates
- Deadline to file a claim, to opt out (exclude yourself) or to object: October 30, 2026.
- Final approval hearing: December 2, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., Courtroom 16-B, James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Philadelphia.
- Official website: www.BrooksBankruptcyClassAction.com.
Your three choices
File a claim. You receive your share, and you give up your own claims covered by the settlement.
Do nothing. If you are in the No Bankruptcy Group, you still receive the automatic $100. If you are in the Aged Bankruptcy Group, you receive nothing. Either way, you are bound by the settlement and 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 arising out of or relating to the reporting of bankruptcy remarks on accounts, including claims under § 1681e(b) and § 1681i(a)(5)(B). If your TransUnion file had other problems too, read the release on the settlement website, or have a lawyer read it, before you decide.
When opting out may be worth considering
If the bankruptcy remark did not change anything for you, a claim is the sensible choice. The calculation is different if you never filed for bankruptcy and the remark cost you something specific during that period. Examples include:
- a mortgage, auto loan or credit card application denied, or approved at a higher rate;
- an apartment application refused, or a larger deposit required;
- a remark you disputed that TransUnion removed and then put back.
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. The reports in this case were sold between January 2020 and January 2023, so for reports from 2020 and most of 2021 the five-year limit has already passed, and for the latest reports it runs out in January 2028. Whether the class case paused the 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 the remark cost you more than a settlement share, collect:
- any TransUnion report from 2020 to 2023 that shows the bankruptcy remark;
- any denial or adverse action letter from that period;
- your dispute letters and TransUnion’s responses;
- anything showing you never filed for bankruptcy, or that your only filing was more than ten years earlier.
Then decide before October 30, with the documents in hand.
We handle credit reporting errors under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including claims against TransUnion over bankruptcy information that does not belong on a report. You pay nothing unless we win.
Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.
Related reading on this site: TransUnion credit report errors · when someone else’s information is on your report · bankruptcy and discharged debt on a credit report · Equifax’s $100 million credit score settlement · Equifax’s $30 million hard inquiry settlement · suing a credit bureau · FCRA class actions.
Sources
- Order granting preliminary approval of class action settlement, Brooks v. Trans Union, LLC, No. 22-0048-KSM (E.D. Pa. July 6, 2026)
- Class Action Settlement Agreement and Release, Brooks v. Trans Union, LLC, and the complaint (filed February 21, 2022)
- Top Class Actions, “$8.31M TransUnion inaccurate credit report class action settlement” (September 16, 2026)
- ClassAction.org, “$8.31M Trans Union Settlement Resolves Lawsuit Over Bankruptcy Remarks on Credit Accounts” (September 1, 2026)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681e, § 1681i, § 1681n, § 1681o, § 1681p
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