When Julie Miller, of Marion County, Ore., found out that her Equifax credit report contained false information, she tried for years to set things straight with the credit report company.
Miller claimed she was embarrassed by the soiled financial reputation and lack of access to credit, so she contacted the company eight times over two years in an attempt to correct the false information about her Social Security number, birth date and collection accounts. At one point, Equifax told her that her account had accidentally been combined with another person’s.
After Equifax failed to resolve the issue despite Miller’s multiple attempts, the Oregon woman took Equifax to court in 2011. On Friday, a jury ordered Equifax to pay Miller $18.6 million — one of the largest-ever financial victories for consumer complaints against credit companies.
In a statement Miller’s lawyer, Justin Baxter speculated that the jury was sympathetic to the multiple ways that bad credit had impacted her life. In one instance, Miller couldn’t obtain credit for her disabled brother.
“There was damage to her reputation, a breach of her privacy and the lost opportunity to seek credit,” Baxter said.
Equifax has not commented on the case, but it’s likely the company will appeal the decision.
Do you think Equifax should pay Julie Miller $18.6 million for the mistakes on her credit report?
