Premier Credit Reporting Agency Just Made A Critical Error
This article is more than 2 years old
Consumers rely on credit reporting agencies to get their credit scores right. Because the results of their getting the numbers wrong can be devastating. Unfortunately, some consumers got the bad news that their credit scores were inaccurate, prompting them to hit Equifax with a lawsuit.
The consumer reporting agency already came under fire in 2019 when it experienced a data breach impacting 150 million consumers. According to Consumer Affairs, the company “wound up paying $700 million in relief and penalties.” So many are hopeful the federal government will also step into this Equifax lawsuit.
But what happened this time is different. Earlier this year, Equifax had what they call a computer glitch. It resulted in inaccurate numbers getting reported during credit checks.
However, the extent of the problem may have been just as widespread. “The consumer reporting agency admitted that it had provided inaccurate credit scores to lenders of millions of consumers.” And one of those consumers, Nydia Jenkins, kicked off the Equifax lawsuit.
At the start of 2022, Jenkins received a preapproval for a car loan. But the dealership ultimately denied her a loan when she tried to purchase a car. After reviewing the report provided by Equifax, she noticed her score was off by 130 points.
Jenkins had to obtain a loan elsewhere, with worse terms and a higher monthly payment. She initiated the class action lawsuit against Equifax for failure to adhere to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It protects consumers against “the transmission of inaccurate information about them.”
Additionally, the FCRA requires credit reporting agencies like Equifax to give lenders information “in a manner which is fair and equitable to the consumer, with regard to the confidentiality, accuracy, relevancy, and proper utilization of such information.” According to the Equifax lawsuit, that did not happen. But the company has yet to respond directly to the suit.
But it has issued a statement about the reported coding problem. It said, “As part of our commitment to resolving this issue, Equifax has conducted an analysis of credit scores used for consumers seeking credit during the time period of the issue. Our analysis indicates that for those consumers there was no shift in the majority of scores during the three-week timeframe of the issue.”
“For those consumers that did experience a score shift, initial analysis indicates that only a small number of them may have received a different credit decision. While the score may have shifted, a score shift does not necessarily mean that a consumer’s credit decision was negatively impacted,” the statement continued. However, stories like Jenkins’ are probably not unique. They likely just have yet to hit the news.
Consider contacting the attorneys if you think you qualify to join the Equifax lawsuit. The error occurred during a three-week stretch. Any credit card, mortgage, or auto loan application between March 17 and April 6 are eligible for review.
According to Classaction.org, attorneys will help those who filled out loan applications during the above period. They will work to determine whether your scores were impacted. And the website states they will let you know whether you can join the Equifax lawsuit for free, which is great news.
