Equifax Duplicate Account FCRA Settlement: Claims Closed

At a glance

Status

Pending final approval

Defendant

Equifax Information Services LLC

Settlement fund

$2,200,000

Claim deadline

September 1, 2026

No-proof cash option

Yes — 6 months Equifax Complete credit monitoring (automatic), or up to cash payment up to $600 with valid claim

Max documented payout

$600

Administrator

Angeion Group

Official site

www.duplicateaccountfcrasettlement.com

Court

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia

Case number

1:22-cv-04754-MLB (Bradberry v. Equifax Information Services LLC), No. 1:22-cv-04754-MLB

Last verified October 18, 2026

Key dates

Milestone	Date	What it means
Claim deadline	September 1, 2026(passed)	Last day to file for a payment
Opt-out (exclusion) deadline	September 1, 2026(passed)	Last day to leave the settlement and keep the right to sue
Objection deadline	September 1, 2026(passed)	Last day to object to the terms
Final approval hearing	October 6, 2026(passed)	When the judge decides whether to approve the settlement
Expected payout	Not yet scheduled	Payments are not sent until after final approval and any appeals

Where to file

Equifax Duplicate Account FCRA Settlement is administered by Angeion Group. The only place to file is the official settlement website:

Verify on the official site

www.duplicateaccountfcrasettlement.com

Filing is free. No legitimate settlement charges a fee to file a claim.

You cannot file on RecordingLaw.com. We are an independent publisher, not the settlement administrator, and we are not affiliated with any court, agency, or defendant.

What happened

Equifax Information Services LLC is accused of reporting the same collection account more than once on certain consumers' Equifax credit files. In August and September 2022, Equifax mailed affected consumers a letter telling them it had identified an issue that may have caused a collection account to be listed more than once on their file; the people who received that letter make up the class. The lawsuit, styled Bradberry v. Equifax Information Services LLC, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, case No. 1:22-cv-04754-MLB.

This is not a data breach. Nobody hacked Equifax or stole files. The claim is about the accuracy of Equifax's credit reports: the named plaintiff alleges her single collection account appeared on her report twice, as two separate derogatory tradelines. The suit alleges this violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the federal law that governs how credit reporting agencies must handle and report consumer information. Equifax has not admitted wrongdoing, and the settlement resolves the claims without a trial.

Where the case stands right now

As of September 9, 2026, this settlement's claims window has closed. The claim deadline, the deadline to exclude yourself from the class (opt out), and the deadline to object were all the same date, Sept. 1, 2026, and all three have passed. Opting out and objecting were different actions: opting out removed you from the class and any settlement benefit, while objecting kept you in the class while telling the court you disagreed with its terms. Both shared the Sept. 1, 2026 deadline.

The court has scheduled a final approval hearing for Oct. 6, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., in Courtroom 1906 of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta. Until the judge grants final approval at or after that hearing, no payments go out, so there is no payment date to report yet.

Who is in the class

The class is specific and easy to test yourself against: roughly 37,000 individuals nationwide whom Equifax mailed a letter in August or September 2022 saying a collection account may have been listed more than once on their Equifax file. If you did not receive such a letter in that two-month window, you are not likely part of this settlement.

Equifax or the settlement administrator, Angeion Group, should have mailed or emailed a notice to class members. That notice carries a Notice ID beginning with the letters 'EQB' along with a PIN, both of which are needed to file a claim online. If you believe you are a class member but cannot find your notice, the official settlement site has a lookup tool rather than a general customer service line documented here.

How much you could get

The realistic outcome for most class members is the credit monitoring benefit: 6 months of Equifax Complete credit monitoring, which requires no claim form. It is not applied automatically, though. If the court grants final approval and the settlement becomes final, class members who did not opt out will be sent an access code, and they must use that code to sign up. If you ignore the code, you do not get the monitoring.

Class members who wanted cash had to file a claim by Sept. 1, 2026. The court-approved notice says the payment will be calculated based on how many valid claims are received and is expected to be up to $600. That $600 figure is an expectation, not a typical payout and not a guaranteed amount. The cash comes from a $2,200,000 Settlement Fund that also pays the costs of administering the settlement, attorneys' fees of $733,333.33, and litigation costs of up to $75,000, and what remains is divided among roughly 37,000 class members' valid claims. Most people who file may get less than $600, and no specific dollar amount is guaranteed to any individual claimant.

A free credit freeze at all three major credit bureaus is stronger protection than either option here, and it costs nothing regardless of whether you file a claim, so it is worth doing first no matter what you decide about the settlement itself.

What proof is needed

No claim form is needed for the 6 months of credit monitoring, but you must use the access code that will be sent after final approval to enroll.

Requesting the cash payment required filing a claim with the Notice ID and PIN from the settlement notice, and that window closed Sept. 1, 2026. The claim form did not ask for documents. It asked claimants to check at least one of two boxes, to the best of their knowledge, information, and belief: that Equifax sent a credit report to a third party showing the duplicate collection account, or that they were denied credit and one reason was the duplicate collection account on their Equifax report. Claimants then chose a payment method and signed the form under penalty of perjury.

How to file

Filing happened only through the official settlement website, using the Notice ID and PIN from the mailed or emailed notice, and that window closed Sept. 1, 2026. The same official site is where a filed claim can be checked. There is no filing process on RecordingLaw, and nobody should ask you to submit personal financial information anywhere else in connection with this case. If a text message, email, or phone call claims to be collecting your claim information for this settlement outside the official channel, treat it as a phishing attempt, not the real process. Because the class list here is built from people who already received a specific duplicate-account letter from Equifax, a message referencing 'the Equifax settlement' that does not match your actual notice details is a red flag worth ignoring.

If you did not get a letter, or want to protect yourself either way

If you never received a letter from Equifax in August or September 2022 about a collection account listed more than once, you are not part of this specific class, but duplicate or inaccurate items on a credit report can happen outside this case too. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) explains how to dispute an error on your credit report directly with the credit bureau and the company that furnished the information.

Whether or not you are in this settlement, a free credit freeze at all three major bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, blocks new accounts from being opened in your name and costs nothing to place or lift. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a plain-language guide to credit freezes and fraud alerts. If you ever suspect identity theft, IdentityTheft.gov is the federal government's free recovery-plan tool, and it is worth checking your existing accounts and credit reports periodically regardless of this case.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Equifax Duplicate Account FCRA Settlement about?

It resolves claims that Equifax Information Services LLC reported the same collection account more than once on certain consumers' credit files, an alleged FCRA violation. The class is the roughly 37,000 people Equifax mailed a letter about that problem in August and September 2022. It is not a data breach case; no hacking or data theft is alleged.

Who is eligible for the Equifax Duplicate Account FCRA Settlement?

An estimated 37,000 individuals whom Equifax mailed a letter in August or September 2022 saying a collection account may have been listed more than once on their Equifax file. Check your mail or email for a notice with a Notice ID starting with 'EQB' and a PIN.

How much money can I get from the Equifax Duplicate Account FCRA Settlement?

As of September 9, 2026, class members who did not opt out are eligible for 6 months of Equifax Complete credit monitoring without filing a claim, using an access code that will be sent after final approval. Filing a claim could bring a cash payment, but that window closed Sept. 1, 2026. The payment depends on how many valid claims are received and is expected to be up to $600, paid from a $2,200,000 fund that also covers fees and costs, so most claimants should not count on the full amount.

When is the deadline to file a claim in the Equifax settlement?

The claim deadline and the deadline to exclude yourself from the class were both Sept. 1, 2026, and both have passed. The next dated event is the final approval hearing on Oct. 6, 2026.

Is the objection deadline the same as the claim deadline?

Yes. The objection deadline for the Equifax Duplicate Account FCRA Settlement was Sept. 1, 2026, the same date as the claim and opt-out deadline, and it has passed. Objecting was still different from opting out: an objection keeps you in the class while telling the court you think the settlement is unfair, while opting out removes you from the class and any settlement benefit.

Do I have to do anything to get the free credit monitoring?

You do not have to file a claim, but you do have to sign up. If the court grants final approval and the settlement becomes final, class members who did not exclude themselves will be sent an access code for the 6 months of Equifax Complete credit monitoring, and you must use that code to enroll.

When will payments from the Equifax settlement go out?

There is no set payout date yet. The court has scheduled a final approval hearing for Oct. 6, 2026, and payments cannot be issued until a judge grants final approval at or after that hearing.

Can I file my claim on RecordingLaw.com?

No. Filing happened only on the official settlement website using the Notice ID and PIN from the settlement notice, and that window closed Sept. 1, 2026. RecordingLaw does not process claims for this or any settlement.

Is the Equifax settlement payment taxable?

It depends on what the payment is meant to replace, which can vary by claimant. The IRS explains general rules for the taxability of lawsuit, award, and settlement payments; consult a tax professional about your specific situation.