Trans Union LLC has agreed to put $8.31 million into a fund for people whose credit reports carried a bankruptcy remark that no court record backed up. About 57,000 people are covered, and they are split into two groups. Members of the smaller group get $100 automatically, with no form. Everyone else has to file, and the claim deadline is October 30, 2026. A federal judge in Pennsylvania has not given final approval, so none of the money has gone out yet, and the amount each person receives will depend on how many claims arrive.
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Two groups, two different payments
The settlement site describes the No Bankruptcy Group as people for whom Trans Union found no locatable bankruptcy filing at all, based on Social Security number searches of public records. About 21,000 people are in it. The Aged Bankruptcy Group is about 36,000 people whose public record showed only bankruptcies filed more than ten years before the date of the Trans Union credit report. Both groups cover reports sold between January 6, 2020 and January 31, 2023.
Whether a person is in the class is not something to guess at. Each class member is supposed to have received a notice with a claim number and a PIN, and those two codes let a person log in to the settlement website and see which group Trans Union placed them in. A person who got a notice should find the codes on it. The No Bankruptcy Group gets its $100 without doing anything, but the larger payment in either group needs a valid claim, and the filing deadline is October 30.
People holding a Brooks v. Trans Union notice and unsure which group they sit in can use The Settlement & Refund Recovery System, which includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a step-by-step filing walkthrough.
See the Brooks v. Trans Union claim number and PIN steps →
What a claim adds to the $100
For the No Bankruptcy Group, a valid claim adds about $1,000 on top of the automatic $100, according to the settlement site. The Aged Bankruptcy Group gets nothing unless a claim is filed, and the site puts that payment at about $350. Both figures are estimates. The administrator says they rest on the typical claims rates in similar cases, and that the actual amounts will depend on the claims rate in this case.
That wording matters because the fund is fixed. If fewer people file than in comparable cases, each valid claim could pay more than the estimate. If more file, each could pay less. Payments are made by electronic transfer through the website or by a check mailed to the address on the claim form, and the automatic $100 checks go to the addresses Trans Union keeps. The settlement site says payments start only after the court approves the deal and it becomes final.
Not all of the $8.31 million goes to class members. The settlement FAQ lists $2,770,000 in requested attorney fees, up to $308,000 in litigation expenses and a service award of up to $50,000 for the plaintiff. ClaimDepot, which tracks settlements, also lists at least $210,000 for administration. The court decides the fee requests at the final hearing, and any amount it trims would stay in the fund for class members.
The allegation behind the case
The lawsuit, Brooks v. Trans Union LLC, was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under case number 2:22-cv-00048. William Norman Brooks III is the plaintiff, and the class lawyers are at Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. in Philadelphia. The complaint cited section 1681e(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the federal law that requires credit bureaus to follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the reports they prepare.
According to ClassAction.org, the claim is that Trans Union sold a consumer report that carried a bankruptcy remark on an account line but had no reference to a bankruptcy in the public-record section. A report like that tells a lender that a borrower went through bankruptcy even though no court filing could be found, which can mean a denied loan or a higher rate. Trans Union denies that it violated the law or did anything wrong, and the settlement is not an admission of fault.
The court has already taken one step. ClassAction.org reports that preliminary approval came on July 6, 2026, and the court has said it will likely be able to certify the settlement class. The case website posts the preliminary approval order, the notice, the claim form and the settlement agreement on its documents page. The final approval hearing is set for December 2, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.
Filing a Trans Union claim by October 30
The free route is the Brooks v. Trans Union settlement website. Claims can be filed there online or by mail to the settlement administrator at P.O. Box 16, West Point, PA 19486, and the phone line is (888) 279-4003. The deadline for claims is October 30, 2026. Requests to be excluded and objections are due the same day, and anyone who opts out receives no payment and cannot take part in the settlement.
A person who never received a notice, or lost it, can contact the administrator before the deadline. Those who want to see the underlying issue for themselves can pull a report from each of the three nationwide credit bureaus. The Federal Trade Commission says a free report is available from each bureau every week at AnnualCreditReport.com, or by phone at 1-877-322-8228. A bankruptcy remark with no matching court filing is the specific item the settlement covers.
The open number is the claims rate. The settlement site gives $1,000 and $350 as estimates built on typical rates, and it leaves the real figure to the count of valid claims. Nobody has published how many have arrived. The judge will hear the fee requests and decide on final approval on December 2, and checks follow only after that ruling becomes final.
Readers who follow several open class-action settlements at once can look at MoneyPilot, a paid subscription service that lists open class-action settlements and shows which ones may match a subscriber, then files claim forms and tracks deadlines and payout status.
Get MoneyPilot to track the Trans Union claim and other open settlements →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Money Overview’s editorial team.
