Equifax has agreed to put $30 million into a fund for people who disputed hard inquiries on their credit reports, and the notice puts estimated shares at roughly $100, $300 or $400 depending on the group a claimant falls into. Claims close November 29, 2026, and checks follow only after a judge grants final approval. The group that gets the larger estimates is defined by a specific act: mailing Equifax a dispute letter.
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Three Equifax dispute groups, three estimated shares
The case is Hines v. Equifax Information Services LLC, No. 1:19-cv-06701, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, according to the Top Class Actions settlement page. The filed settlement agreement sets up two groups and a subclass.
The Certified Group covers people who mailed Equifax a dispute letter between October 4, 2016 and March 27, 2026, with the dispute coded as “not mine” or “unauthorized,” and who received an Equifax response saying inquiries are a factual record of file access. The General Dispute Group is wider: people with hard-inquiry disputes on record between August 31, 2021 and March 27, 2026. A New York Subclass sits inside the Certified Group and covers dispute responses from November 27, 2017 through September 10, 2024.
The question for a reader who disputed an inquiry is which group the paper trail supports. A letter mailed to Equifax with the reply kept, particularly one calling the inquiry a factual record, points toward the Certified Group and the roughly $300 estimate. A dispute made by phone or online, or a letter not coded as unauthorized, may fit only the General Dispute Group and the roughly $100 estimate. The date of the dispute matters as much as the method.
Readers sorting out their group 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.
Read the dates on the Equifax dispute notice →
The dollar figures are estimates, not a posted rate. ClassAction.org reports about $300 for the Certified Group, about $400 for the New York Subclass and about $100 for the General Dispute Group, with roughly 3 million people eligible to claim.
How the points system produces $100 to $400
The agreement divides the fund by points. A Certified Group member gets 3 points, a Certified Group member who is also in the New York Subclass gets 4, and everyone else, including the General Dispute Group, gets 1. Each claimant’s payment equals that person’s points divided by the total points of everyone who files, so the final amounts move with the number of claims received. That is why the $100 to $400 spread is a set of estimates tied to the 1-3-4 weighting rather than a guaranteed band.
The fund does not all reach claimants. The agreement allows attorneys’ fees of up to $10 million, litigation costs of up to $260,000, awards to four class representatives and notice and administration expenses, all taken before member distributions. Money is also paid in two installments: $1.5 million at preliminary approval and $28.5 million after final approval takes effect.
What happens after November 29
The claim deadline is November 29, 2026, according to Top Class Actions. The final approval hearing is set for December 10, 2026, and ClassAction.org says payouts begin after final approval and the resolution of any appeals. A claim filed on time therefore starts a wait of unknown length rather than a payment on a fixed date. If the court declines approval, nothing is paid under these terms. The settlement agreement describes the fund and the distribution formula; neither the agreement nor the news summaries publish a per-person payment date.
The deadline is an absolute cut-off for anyone who wants to share in the fund. Because every claimant dilutes every other claimant’s share under the points formula, a heavy volume of filings would pull the final figures below the estimates, and a light one would push them up.
Filing the Equifax dispute claim before November 29
The free route is the administrator’s own site, EquifaxDisputeClassAction.com, which is where the notice directs claimants to file. The mailing address for paper filings is Hines v. Equifax c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 16, West Point, PA 19486. No proof of purchase is listed as a requirement, but the form asks for the identifier from the notice and the harm attestation.
Before filing, a claimant should pull together the Equifax response letter, any copy of the mailed dispute, and the dates of each dispute, since those decide between the Certified and General groups. Anyone in New York who received a response between November 27, 2017 and September 10, 2024 should check the subclass dates. The detail most likely to trip someone up is the cut-off for the group: a dispute after March 27, 2026 falls outside the class periods stated in the agreement.
MoneyPilot is a paid subscription service that lists open class-action settlements and shows which ones may match a reader, and it files claim forms for the reader and tracks deadlines and payout status.
See how MoneyPilot tracks open settlement deadlines →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
