By ALAN FARNHAM

For two years an Oregon woman tried without success to get mistakes in her Equifax credit report fixed. Now a jury has awarded her $18.6 million for her trouble.

Justin Baxter, one of the attorneys representing Julie Miller of Marion County, Ore., tells ABC he believes the judgment is unprecedented in its size. “I’m not aware of a larger one,” he says.

Miller’s troubles began in 2009, according to her complaint, when she was denied credit from Huybbard Bank based on her Equifax credit report. She requested and eventually received a copy of her report, which, she discovered, contained false identifying information, an incorrect Social Security number, a false birthday and false, derogatory collection accounts attributed to her.

She began disputing these inaccuracies starting in 2010. She repeatedly contacted the company and was repeatedly told Equifax needed further information before it could process her dispute.

Later in 2010 Miller was denied credit by Key Bank, based on her Equifax report.

After filing further protests with Equifax about the inaccuracies in her report, Equifax representatives told Miller her data had become “mixed” with another person’s. They told her she would need to dispute the false information directly to her creditors.

continue reading »