MoneyStuffed

I’ve received two emails in the past couple of days about a class action lawsuit and proposed settlement with Experian if you paid for a credit score or credit-monitoring service from Experian or ConsumerInfo.com between June 17, 1998 and December 27, 2006.

Without it going into detail about Experian’s alleged (and most likely, probable) wrongdoings, if you fall into the above category and the settlement is approved, you will be eligible for a free credit score or two months of their credit monitoring service, which you will have to cancel to not be charged after those two months. 

Based on a friend’s experience with the credit monitoring service, I suspect this has to do with Experian’s fineprint of charges after their liberal use of the word “free” all over the place.

I glanced at the website for the settlement, Browning Settlement, but didn’t fully analyze much other than how Experian was getting out of this unscathed and for free, sans the attorney’s fees.

I did, however, find an interesting article on CreditTruth.org about how fake the email and website looked (asking you for your social security number on unsecured pages looks like phishing to me, too) but that this was actually legitimate, which I sadly suspected.  CreditTruth went as far as to suggest that maybe that’s the point, to make people suspicious and not sign up.

I agree completely and it’s definitely doing the trick for me.  I won’t be handing over my social security number on an unsecured website for a lame settlement that’s worth $10.

In case you’re interested, below is the text of the email:

NOTICE FROM FEDERAL COURT. PLEASE READ.     You may be eligible to receive a benefit from a class-action settlement if you purchased and paid for a credit score or credit monitoring from ConsumerInfo.com or an Experian Entity between June 17, 1998 and December 27, 2006.

     A federal court has directed that this notice be sent to inform you of a proposed class-action settlement. Records show that you entered into an agreement over the Internet with ConsumerInfo.com or an Experian Entity to purchase any Credit Check or Credit Check Monitoring (which were formerly known as CreditCheck® Monitoring Service), Credit Manager (including Yahoo! Credit Manager), Triple Alert, or Triple Advantage credit-monitoring product, or you paid for a credit score sold on a website that also sold one of these credit-monitoring products, between June 17, 1998 and December 27, 2006. If so, you may be eligible to receive a benefit under the proposed settlement.

     The settlement will resolve a lawsuit over whether Defendants violated the federal Credit Repair Organizations Act or are liable for claims where the stated basis is about improvement of a consumer’s credit record, history, or rating. Under the settlement, Defendants deny that they are liable, but have agreed not to make certain statements on particular websites and to provide all Settlement Class Members with the opportunity to obtain their choice of a settlement benefit: either (i) a credit score or (ii) 60 days of credit monitoring, as described below and on the settlement website. To see if you are a Class Member and to obtain full notice of the proposed Settlement, the required procedures, the Effective Date, the deadlines, your obligations, and your options, you must visit www.browningsettlement.com. This email is only a brief summary of the full notice that is posted on the website.

     If you are an eligible Settlement Class Member, you have rights, obligations, and options under the proposed settlement. You have until May 15, 2007 to make your decision. Your legal rights are affected whether you act or not.

1.   Submit A Registration Form Online Or By Mail
 
     This is the only way to get a settlement benefit of either a credit score or 60 days of credit monitoring. You will choose your benefit, and you must keep all of your registration information updated. If you choose credit monitoring, and you don’t cancel your credit-monitoring membership after using your code to obtain the credit monitoring benefit but prior to the expiration of the 60 day, settlement benefit period, you will be billed at the then-applicable rate, which is currently $9.95, for each month that you continue your membership. Beginning on the Effective Date of the settlement, you will be able to register online or by mail. If you register online, your registration must be completed no later than sixty (60) days after the Effective Date, and submitted online by midnight Pacific Time. If you register by mail, your registration must be mailed and postmarked on or before sixty (60) days after the Effective Date. For more information on these deadlines, the Effective Date of the settlement, the registration procedures, and the settlement benefit, you must visit www.browningsettlement.com. Do not contact the Court.

2.   Exclude Yourself
 
     This is the only option that allows you to ever be part of any other lawsuit about the claims in this case. You will not be eligible for a settlement benefit. Your request for exclusion must be mailed and postmarked on or before May 15, 2007. Any request for exclusion must be mailed to the Browning Settlement Administrator. Do not contact the Court.

3.   Object
 
     Write to the Browning Settlement Administrator in order to tell the Court about why you don’t like the settlement. Your objection must be mailed and postmarked on or before May 15, 2007. Do not contact the Court.

4.   Go to a Hearing
 
     Write to the Browning Settlement Administrator to ask to speak in Court about the fairness of the settlement. Your request to speak at the hearing must be mailed and postmarked on or before May 15, 2007. The final fairness hearing is set for July 31, 2007, at which time the Court will consider whether to finally approve the settlement and a request by the lawyers representing all Class Members for no more than $2,550,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.

5.   Do Nothing
 
     You will automatically be included in the Settlement Class and give up your right to be part of any other lawsuit about the claims in this case, but you will not be eligible to receive a settlement benefit unless you submit a registration form.

     To get complete information about the proposed settlement, the required procedures, the Effective Date, the deadlines, your obligations, and your options, you must visit www.browningsettlement.com. Do not contact the Court.

     Please do not reply to this message. We are unable to respond to inquiries sent in reply to this email. To contact us, please access the official settlement website at http://www.browningsettlement.com/.