New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced a settlement with Equifax Information Services, LLC over inaccuracies in credit scores reported for tens of thousands of New Yorkers. A coding error led to falsely lowered credit scores between March and April 2022, resulting in inflated costs for loans and insurance products. As part of the settlement, Equifax will pay $725,000 and introduce additional safeguards to prevent similar future errors.
"Credit scores affect some of the most significant parts of New Yorkers’ lives," said Attorney General James. "Consumers depend on credit bureaus like Equifax to report their credit history accurately. Equifax’s failure to do its most basic job inflated costs for consumers across New York."
Equifax, one of the nation's largest consumer reporting agencies, discovered the coding error in March 2022 and resolved it by April 8, 2022. The issue affected the credit scores of over 77,000 New Yorkers. In response, Equifax notified lenders and insurers whose clients were impacted by this error during the summer of 2022.
Equifax offered reimbursements to lenders for any adjustments made to interest rates or premiums due to inaccurate reports. As a result, many lenders provided remediation to affected consumers.
The Office of the Attorney General will contact eligible consumers who paid Equifax directly for products showing incorrect credit scores during this period for restitution. The settlement also mandates that Equifax implement consumer safeguards and monitor incident reports weekly.
New Yorkers can report issues with credit rating agencies through OAG's Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau online or via phone.
This case was managed by Assistant Attorney General Glenna Goldis from the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau under Deputy Bureau Chief Laura J. Levine and Bureau Chief Jane M. Azia's supervision.