2009 White v. Experian class action settlement - incorrect after bankruptcy reporting
Monday, October 12, 2009
White v Experian class action: how to claim your award for incorrectly reported discharged accounts
I analyzed the proposed settlement last year:
White v. Experian et al: CRAs must update SOME discharged accounts after bankruptcy filing
The class lawyers certainly sold out to the credit bureaus, but at least you can get some CASH instead of worthless credit monitoring and incomplete credit reports. The settlement fund is $45 million and I believe the attorneys’ fees come out of the fund too.
You can read the details and submit your claim at http://www.bankruptcydischargesettlement.com/
The highlights:
Overview
There is a proposed settlement with TransUnion LLC, Experian Information Solutions, Inc., and Equifax Information Services LLC ("Defendants") in a class action lawsuit about whether they violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") and state laws when reporting debts that had been discharged in bankruptcy as not discharged, whether Defendants conducted proper investigations of consumer disputes regarding such debts, and whether consumers were damaged as a result. The Settlement will provide payments of damage awards from a $45 million settlement fund. If you qualify, you may send in a claim form to get benefits, or you can exclude yourself from the Settlement, or object to it.
The lawsuit alleges that the Defendants violated the FCRA and related state laws by incorrectly reporting debts discharged in bankruptcy on credit reports. The Court did not decide which side was right. But both sides agreed to the Settlement to resolve the case and get benefits to customers.
Before any money is paid, the United States District Court for the Central District of California ("the Court") will have a hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement.
Who Is Included in the Settlement Class?
You are a Class Member eligible for benefits if you received a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy order of discharge and you have had a credit report issued by a Defendant between March 15, 2002 and May 11, 2009 (or, for California residents in the case of TransUnion, between May 12, 2001 and May 11, 2009) that contained debts, accounts, judgments, or other obligations discharged in your bankruptcy that were not reported as discharged.
I have no idea WHY Californians receive special treatment.
You can file your claim online if you received the postcard mailing:
http://www.bankruptcydischargesettlement.com/claim.php3
Claim Form
•If you received a Notice in the mail, click here to access and submit the Claim Form online by providing BOTH your Claim Number and Control Number (located to the right of your pre-printed address).
•If you did not receive a Notice in the mail, click here to download, and mail in a personalized Claim Form.
•Click here to download a blank, non-personalized Claim Form.
WHICH option do you need to check?
Option 1: I cannot make the certification required for Option 2, but I wish to receive a Convenience Award which is estimated to be about $20, depending on how many people choose this Option. I believe that there have been one or more errors in my credit reports regarding debts discharged in bankruptcy.
Option 2: I hereby CERTIFY that I believe I have been damaged by an error in my credit reports regarding debts discharged in bankruptcy with respect to one or more of the following transactions (check as many as apply) and wish to receive an Actual Damage Award, which is estimated to range from $150 to $750, depending on the transaction involved and on how many people choose this option.A denial of employment I applied for Date: (MM/YYYY)
A mortgage loan or a housing
rental I sought Date: (MM/YYYY)
A credit card, auto loan, or other credit applied for, or payment of a discharged debt to obtain credit Date: (MM/YYYY)
Obviously, you’ll get a lot more cash if you choose option two and you have multiple claims.
How do you determine the DATE and HOW do they “verify” your submission?
I’m GUESSING that they will check the credit reports for some or all the people who claim actual damages and that they’ll be looking for a CREDIT INQUIRY in the month you listed as date. Most people will have to check their credit reports to obtain the month/year of the decline. Few people will remember YEARS later. Your CURRENT consumer credit report only lists inquiries for the last couple of years. Hopefully you kept your old reports and my clients can contact me and I can probably retrieve their old reports from storage.
The credit bureaus often have access to the credit reports they provided to you for many years and that’s how they can check whether you actually applied for a mortgage or credit. I doubt that they can expect consumers to KNOW when they were declined so many years after the fact, so I would just guess if I didn’t have the old credit reports. Proving that you were in fact damaged is fortunately NOT required.
While they ask you to CERTIFY the information you provide, you’re NOT committing perjury if you’re submitting an incorrect information.
Don’t let your having to GUESS the date deter you from submitting your claim. The credit bureau employees actually commit perjury all the time and the judges couldn’t possibly care less.
You can check MULTIPLE options if you were DAMAGED.
Damages include an approval at a higher rate, more points, lower loan amount, etc.
If everybody with damages claims their award, $45 million isn’t going to go very far. We have about 8 years covered, discharged accounts are reported for about 7 years, so we’re probably looking at over 20 million people. (See the stats from 1999 - 2003). In my experience, at least one of the credit bureaus reported discharged accounts incorrectly at one time or another.
It’ll be interesting to see how many people claim their award.
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