COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES |
3 Months Ended |
|---|---|
Mar. 31, 2026 | |
| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Legal Settlement
Equifax has been named as a defendant in four related class action lawsuits pending in federal courts across the country concerning inquiry disputes on consumers’ credit files. In January 2026, Equifax and the plaintiffs’ attorneys who filed the lawsuits reached an agreement in principle to settle the claims at issue on a nationwide and class-wide basis. The parties have filed a notice of settlement with one federal court and expect to provide the same notice in other pending lawsuits. If the final terms of a settlement agreement cannot be agreed upon, or if the settlement is not ultimately approved by the court, Equifax believes it has valid defenses to each of these actions and will continue to defend against them. We accrued an estimate of $30.0 million related to these matters in the fourth quarter of 2025, which represents our best estimate of the liability related to global settlement of these matters.
FCRA Litigation
On August 3, 2022, a lawsuit was filed against us in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia alleging violations of certain sections of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) in connection with a previously-disclosed coding issue which impacted how some credit scores were calculated during a three-week period. The complaint seeks certification of a class of consumers whose scores were impacted and unspecified monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. We dispute the allegations in the complaint and intend to defend against the claims.
Data Processing, Outsourcing Services and Other Agreements
We have separate agreements with Google and others to outsource portions of our network and security infrastructure, computer data processing operations, applications development, business continuity and recovery services, help desk service and desktop support functions, operation of our voice and data networks, maintenance and related functions and to provide certain other administrative and operational services. The agreements expire between 2026 and 2033. Annual payment obligations in regard to these agreements vary due to factors such as the volume of data processed; changes in our servicing needs as a result of new product offerings, acquisitions or divestitures; the introduction of significant new technologies; foreign currency; or the general rate of inflation. In certain circumstances (e.g., a change in control or for our convenience), we may terminate these data processing and outsourcing agreements, and, in doing so, certain of these agreements require us to pay significant termination fees.
Guarantees and General Indemnifications
We will from time to time issue standby letters of credit, performance or surety bonds or other guarantees in the normal course of business. The aggregate notional amount of all standby letters of credit, performance bonds and surety bonds is not material at March 31, 2026 and these instruments generally have a remaining maturity of one year or less. We may issue other guarantees in the ordinary course of business. The maximum potential future payments we could be required to make under the guarantees is not material at March 31, 2026. We have agreed to guarantee the liabilities and performance obligations (some of which have limitations) of a certain debt collections and recovery management subsidiary under its commercial agreements.
Many of our commercial agreements contain commercially standard indemnification obligations related to tort, material breach or other liabilities that arise during the course of performance under the agreement. These indemnification obligations are typically mutual.
We are the lessee under many real estate leases. It is common in these commercial lease transactions for us, as the lessee, to agree to indemnify the lessor and other related third parties for tort, environmental and other liabilities that arise out of or relate to our use or occupancy of the leased premises. This type of indemnity would typically make us responsible to indemnified parties for liabilities arising out of the conduct of, among others, contractors, licensees and invitees at or in connection with the use or occupancy of the leased premises. This indemnity often extends to related liabilities arising from the negligence of the indemnified parties, but usually excludes any liabilities caused by either their sole or gross negligence and their willful misconduct.
Certain of our credit agreements include provisions which require us to make payments to preserve an expected economic return to the lenders if that economic return is diminished due to certain changes in law or regulations. In certain of
these credit agreements, we also bear the risk of certain changes in tax laws that would be subject to payments to non-U.S. lenders to withholding taxes.
In conjunction with certain transactions, such as sales or purchases of operating assets or services in the ordinary course of business, or the disposition of certain assets or businesses, we sometimes provide routine indemnifications, the terms of which range in duration and sometimes are not limited.
The Company has entered into indemnification agreements with its directors and executive officers. Under these agreements, the Company has agreed to indemnify such individuals to the fullest extent permitted by law against liabilities that arise by reason of their status as directors or officers and to advance expenses incurred by such individuals in connection with the related legal proceedings. The Company maintains directors and officers liability insurance coverage to reduce its exposure to such obligations.
We cannot reasonably estimate our potential future payments under the guarantees and indemnities and related provisions described above because we cannot predict when and under what circumstances these provisions may be triggered.
Contingencies
In addition to the matters set forth above, we are involved in legal and regulatory matters, government investigations, claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. We periodically assess our exposure related to these matters based on the information which is available. We have recorded accruals in our Consolidated Financial Statements for those matters in which it is probable that we have incurred a loss and the amount of the loss, or range of loss, can be reasonably estimated. For certain of these matters, it is reasonably possible that we will incur losses, however it is not possible at this time to estimate the amount of loss or range of possible losses that might result from their resolution. The Company will continue to evaluate information as it becomes known and will record an estimate for losses at the time when it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of the loss is reasonably estimable.
For additional information about these and other commitments and contingencies, see Note 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2025 Form 10-K.
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