Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A lawsuit has been filed against Equifax days after the company confirmed a technical glitch miscalculated credit scores for some 300,000 consumers.
Nydia Jenkins, of Jacksonville, Fla., alleges in the suit that Equifax's error lowered her credit score and cost her an extra $150 per month on her car loan.
Jenkins said she was initially pre-approved for the car loan in January, but then was denied in April because of the reporting error.
"For a credit reporting agency, one of only three, that so many million Americans depend upon in context with seeking extension of credit, we have to rely upon the accuracy and competence of those organizations," Jenkins' attorney, John Yanchunis, told CBS News. "This is a major misstep."
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She filed the lawsuit Wednesday in a federal court in Atlanta. Her lawyers said she's seeking class-action status, MarketWatch reported.
Equifax, which is headquartered in Atlanta, reports the credit scores of more than 200 million people. The company said Tuesday that a coding error caused it to send more than 300,000 faulty credit scores.
About 12% of Equifax credit scores may have been off by at least 25 points in either direction, the company confirmed, which could have resulted in some borrowers being wrongfully denied credit for auto or home loans.
In June, housing agency Freddie Mac issued an alert to its clients after Equifax told the agency 12% of its credit scores between March 17 and April 6 may have been inaccurate.
As early as May, trade publication National Mortgage Professional reported Equifax had warned lenders about a coding issue during a technology change to its legacy online model platform may have resulted in the miscalculation of credit scores.
The publication also reported in May that Equifax said it had notified customers and that the problem had been corrected.
Equifax is one of three major credit-reporting companies in the United States. It provides consumer financial information and credit scores, that can range from 300 to 850, to lenders.
Sheri Walsh contributed to this report.
