Equifax Wrongly Reported Pink Energy ‘Scam Loans’ on Consumer Credit Reports, Class Action Says

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Two consumers claim in a proposed class action that Equifax willfully reported in their credit files inaccurate and misleading information that, by law, should have been deleted.

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According to the 20-page lawsuit, Equifax has “blindly” reported in the plaintiffs’ credit files false information that it received about loans issued by now-defunct and bankrupt solar company Pink Energy and its lending partners. The suit contends that the consumer reporting agency has relied on the inaccurate data supplied by these companies and outright ignored the information it received from consumer disputes, multiple attorneys general, public statements and extensive press coverage about the fraudulent loan scheme allegedly perpetrated by Pink Energy and its partners.

By doing so, Equifax, the case charges, has violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires consumer reporting agencies to use reasonable procedures to ensure the “maximum possible accuracy” of the information they report.

Per the complaint, the loans reported on the plaintiffs’ credit files were issued by Pink Energy and its lending partners—including Sunlight Financial LLC—as part of an alleged scheme to trick thousands of consumers into signing “scam loans” in connection with the purchase of rooftop solar systems.

As the filing tells it, consumers like the plaintiffs—in whose credit files Equifax reported a loan serviced by Sunlight with a past due amount of $64,864—are now “on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in loans for a rooftop solar panel system that was either never installed, never properly installed, or is otherwise faulty [or] overpriced with a hidden fee.”

After multiple lawsuits were filed against Pink Energy, and the now-bankrupt company and its lending partners came under investigation, numerous attorneys general wrote that the loans at issue “should be suspended and would not be lawfully enforced,” the lawsuit relays.

The plaintiffs disputed the reported debts with Equifax in April 2023 and provided a letter from the state attorney general that informed the defendant that the Sunlight loans were “at best highly questionable, and at worst a complete sham,” the suit says.

Nevertheless, the case alleges that Equifax did not investigate the plaintiffs’ disputes and instead “relied entirely” on the information it was furnished by Sunlight, without taking additional steps to check that the data was, in fact, accurate.

Indeed, the consumers’ July 2023 credit files reveal that Equifax has continued to report the Sunlight accounts with a past-due balance of more than $64,000, the complaint shares.

The filing claims that despite the widely publicized statements of numerous attorneys general, Equifax has nonetheless allowed Pink Energy’s lending partners to inaccurately report balances owed on the “bogus loans,” which continue to be disputed by consumers and overtly investigated by state government officers.

Moreover, the case contends that Equifax violated the FCRA by failing to conduct an investigation when it received the plaintiffs’ disputes and delete the reporting of the Sunlight accounts once it knew they were being challenged.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States for whom Equifax furnished a consumer report at any time since January 1, 2023 that contained an account where the original creditor of the loan was one of Pink Energy’s lending partners.

The suit also seeks to cover any United States residents for whom Equifax furnished a consumer report to a third party within the past two years that contained an account pertaining to the purchase of Pink Energy products where the original creditor of the loan was one of the company’s lending partners, and where the account information section showed a Compliance Condition Code that was blank or did not include a written remark by the consumer that the debt was disputed.

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