If you’ve told Equifax at any point in the past several years that a credit check on your report wasn’t yours, you may have money coming.
Not a fortune, but real money: an estimated $100 to $400, depending on which group you fall into. And the deadline to claim it is Nov. 29.
Here’s what happened, who qualifies and how to file in about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.
What Equifax is accused of doing
A “hard inquiry” lands on your credit report when a lender pulls your file after you apply for credit. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, those inquiries can affect your credit score, because scoring models look at how recently and how often you’ve applied.
So when one shows up that you never authorized, you have every reason to want it gone. It could ding your score. It could also be a sign that somebody’s trying to open credit in your name.
The lawsuit, Hines v. Equifax Information Services, is in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It claims that when people mailed Equifax a dispute saying an inquiry wasn’t theirs, the company often failed to reasonably investigate.
Instead, according to the case, many got back a stock reply, labeled “Cons Comm 664,” saying, in essence, that an inquiry is simply a record of who pulled the file. Translation: Not our problem. Take it up with the creditor.
Top Class Actions, which tracks these cases, reports the suit claimed Equifax didn’t contact the companies that pulled the reports and didn’t remove the disputed inquiries.
Equifax denies the allegations, and the settlement isn’t an admission of liability, according to the settlement agreement. But the company agreed to put up $30 million to end the case.
Are you one of the roughly 3 million people covered?
The settlement covers about 3 million people, according to settlement materials reported by Top Class Actions. They fall into three groups, based on Equifax’s own records:
- The Certified Group. You sent Equifax a dispute letter by mail challenging a hard inquiry between Oct. 4, 2016, and March 27, 2026, it was coded “not mine” or “unauthorized,” and Equifax sent you a reply containing that Cons Comm 664 language.
- The General Dispute Group. Equifax got a dispute from you about at least one hard inquiry between Aug. 31, 2021, and March 27, 2026.
- The New York Subclass. You had a New York address and got a Cons Comm 664 reply to a mailed “not mine” dispute between Nov. 27, 2017, and Sept. 10, 2024.
Notice that the first group requires a mailed letter. The second covers a dispute filed any way.
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How much you could get
According to Top Class Actions, here’s what people in each group are expected to receive:
- Certified Group: about $300
- General Dispute Group: about $100
- New York Subclass: about $400
Those are estimates, not promises. Payments are a share of what’s left in the fund after costs, so the final amounts depend on how many people file. If few people bother, checks get bigger. If millions do, they shrink.
Either way, it’s money you’d otherwise leave on the table. Class members who do nothing get nothing, and they still give up their right to sue.
How to claim your share in 4 steps
1. Find your notice
Settlement notices went out by email or mail. Each one has a claim number and PIN, and you’ll need both to file online.
Search your inbox and spam folder for “Hines v Equifax.” To be safe, type the official web address yourself rather than clicking a link.
Because membership is based on Equifax’s records, you can’t simply declare yourself in. If you believe you qualify but never got a notice, contact the settlement administrator through the official site, EquifaxDisputeClassAction.com.
2. Figure out your group
Dig out any old letters from Equifax. If one says inquiries are “a factual record of file access,” you’re likely in the higher-paying Certified Group. Logging in with your claim number and PIN should also show which group you’re in.
3. File by Nov. 29
You don’t need receipts or copies of your credit report.
You do have to sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you disputed an inquiry and were harmed by how Equifax handled it, or were denied credit partly because of it. Answer honestly. That’s a legal document, not a sweepstakes entry.
If you’d rather not be part of the deal, perhaps to sue on your own, the deadline to opt out or object is Nov. 20. The court’s final approval hearing is set for Dec. 10.
4. Check your credit reports while you’re at it
Settlement or no settlement, an inquiry you didn’t authorize deserves attention. You can now pull your reports from all three bureaus free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com.
If something’s wrong, the Federal Trade Commission says to dispute it with both the credit bureau and the company that reported it. The bureau generally has 30 days to investigate.
And if you find more mistakes than you have time to fight, you can get help cleaning up your credit here.
The bigger lesson
Credit bureaus aren’t your friends. They don’t work for you. You’re not their customer. You’re their product.
That’s why disputing errors is harder than it should be, and why it just got tougher. We’ve covered how the government made it harder to fight credit report errors.
One more thing: Don’t confuse this case with a separate one. Equifax is also in a different deal covering about 4 million borrowers, which you can learn about in “You Could Get a Payment from Equifax’s $100M Settlement.” You could qualify for both, neither or one.
Five minutes. Maybe a few hundred bucks. That’s a better hourly wage than most of us earn. Go file.
