Welcome! This website contains information about the settlement of three class action lawsuits under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in federal court in the District of South Carolina involving the credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.

Plaintiffs concluded that, when placed on the scales, the value and importance of this ‘bird in the hand’– namely, correction of the credit reporting problem – was worth more than the speculative possibility a class could eventually recover a sizable damages verdict that might not survive an appeal. Simply put, the choice was between a practical remedy now and a difficult shot at a class-wide monetary recovery later.

Plaintiffs were also faced with the inevitable uncertainties of litigation. The theory of these cases was untested, and these class actions were the first ever certified involving the credit reporting industry’s ‘Big Three’. There was the possibility that the Plaintiffs could lose the cases on the merits, that they could be decertified as class actions, that the certification decision could ultimately be reversed on appeal, or that a large damages verdict could be lost on appeal. All of these possibilities had to be considered. In the end, the time, effort, and expense (over $1 million per case for the cost of class notice alone) invested could have come to nothing.”

-From Plaintiffs’ Declaration filed
March 25, 2003. For complete
text, see Documents.