Equifax’s settlement of the credit-score coding error is open to claims until December 28, 2026, but only a narrow slice of consumers sits inside it. The settlement website run by administrator Verita ties the class to credit scores or attributes that Equifax reported to a third party between March 17 and April 8, 2022, and that differed from what they would otherwise have been. A claim form is required for any payment, and the court has not yet granted final approval.
Inside the guide: The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a step-by-step filing walkthrough and a claim log and payment tracker for settlements with open claim windows.
Open the filing walkthrough and claim log before December 28 →
Why a three-week window in 2022 defines the Equifax class
The case is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia as No. 1:22-cv-3072-LMM-CCB. According to the administrator’s frequently asked questions page, the “OMS Issue” was a computer coding problem Equifax experienced from March 17, 2022 through April 8, 2022. During those weeks, some scores and credit attributes that Equifax sent to lenders and other third parties were not what they should have been.
Membership in the class is not open to everyone who held an Equifax file at the time. The settlement class covers individuals in the United States for whom a score or attribute differing from what it would have been absent the OMS Issue, according to the “OMS Analysis,” was reported to a third party in connection with a “Class Transaction.” A Class Transaction is one that Equifax identified in that analysis. Equifax employees, officers, directors and the judges in the case are excluded.
That definition is why the headline limit matters. A credit report Equifax delivered in February 2022, or in May 2022, falls outside the class period no matter what it contained. A report delivered inside the window that was not altered by the coding error is also outside the class. Both conditions, timing and an altered score or attribute, are set by the settlement’s own terms and by Equifax’s analysis rather than by a consumer’s recollection of applying for credit. The administrator’s site describes the OMS Analysis as the reference point, and it names no other test for membership, so the reported transaction and its date are the facts that decide who is in.
Fund size, estimated payments and the deadlines that run before approval
The administrator reports that Equifax agreed to pay $100,000,000 into a non-reversionary settlement fund once final approval occurs, meaning unclaimed money does not return to the company. Estimated individual payments range from $95 to $280, with the exact figure depending on the valid claims received. Each claimant receives an equal, pro rata share of the net distribution amount, so the payment is an estimate until the claims period closes and the court rules.
Four dates sit on the administrator’s deadlines page. Exclusion requests and objections are both due November 27, 2026. Claims are due December 28, 2026. The final approval hearing is January 22, 2027 at 2:00 pm at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building, 75 Ted Turner Drive SW, in Atlanta. The order matters: the opt-out and objection date falls a month before the claim date, and a consumer who has been excluded cannot also file a claim.
The same page states the consequence of inaction plainly: “If you do nothing, you will not receive a payment, but you will still be bound by the settlement and judgment in this action.” Claimants, and class members who stay in without claiming, release their claims and cannot sue Equifax over the issues in the lawsuit. Class counsel, four firms in all, may receive up to one-third of the fund, $33,333,333, plus up to $500,000 in expenses if the court approves.
A claim form for a window most consumers cannot reconstruct
The practical difficulty is that the class turns on events consumers rarely recorded. Few people keep a note of every lender, landlord, card issuer or insurer that pulled an Equifax report in a particular three-week stretch four years ago. The settlement ties membership to Equifax’s own analysis of which transactions were affected, so a consumer cannot settle the question from memory alone, and the pages reviewed do not publish a lookup that answers it.
The filing itself is simple in form but unforgiving in timing. The completed claim form goes in online through the administrator’s site or by mail to Equifax FCRA Litigation, P.O. Box 301132, Los Angeles, CA 90030-1132, by December 28, 2026. Because the exclusion and objection date comes first, a consumer weighing whether to stay in the class has until November 27 to decide, while the claim date follows a month later, and the court’s approval on January 22, 2027 comes only after both.
Filing a claim is free and can be done directly with the administrator. The claim site is at veritaconnect.com, and questions go to the administrator at 1-888-808-1542. No third-party service is needed to submit the form or to read the notice. Because final approval is still pending, the payment amounts remain estimates, and the court’s January 22, 2027 ruling is the next event that can change them.
Tracking the Equifax claim window from filing to payment
The Equifax notice sets a November 27 exclusion date, a December 28 claim deadline and a January 22 approval hearing, and the news leaves the practical job of recording which of them has been met. A claim filed and then forgotten leaves no record of what was submitted or when. Payment, if the court approves the settlement, would arrive only after the hearing.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System is a paid guide that combines the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice, a step-by-step filing walkthrough and a claim log and payment tracker.
Open The Settlement & Refund Recovery System to the four-date rule →
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Money Overview editorial team.
