American Consumer Credit Counseling Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over January 2025 Data Breach

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American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) has agreed to a settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that alleged the nonprofit failed to safeguard confidential information in its care from a January 2025 data breach.

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The American Consumer Credit Counseling class action settlement received preliminary approval from the court on May 6, 2026. The deal covers all United States residents whose personally identifiable information was potentially compromised in the data breach experienced by ACCC, including all who received notice of the incident.

Court documents state that approximately 11,611 people are covered by the ACCC data breach settlement.

The court-approved website for the American Consumer Credit Counseling class action settlement can be found at ACCCSettlement.com.

Settlement class members who submit a timely, valid claim form can receive up to $3,500 for documented out-of-pocket losses incurred between January 27, 2025 and September 16, 2026 due to the data breach. This benefit covers losses from identity theft and fraud and costs for credit reports, credit monitoring, freezing/unfreezing credit, replacement IDs, postage, and more.

Class members must submit proof, such as bank statements or receipts, to receive a documented-loss payment.

Additionally, class members can file a claim form to receive compensation for up to four hours of lost time spent responding to the data breach, at a rate of $20 per hour. Activities covered by this benefit include changing passwords, researching the ACCC data breach, and investigating suspicious account activity.

In lieu of a documented-loss or lost-time payment, class members can instead submit a claim form to receive a $45 alternative cash payment, with no proof required.

Finally, all class members can file a claim form to enroll in three years of CyEx Financial Shield Complete, which includes one-bureau credit monitoring, financial fraud insurance, and access to fraud resolution agents.

To submit an ACCC settlement claim form online, class members can head to this page and enter the login ID and PIN found on their copy of the settlement notice. Alternatively, class members can download a PDF claim form to print, fill out, and return by mail to the settlement administrator.

All ACCC claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by September 16, 2026.

The court will determine whether to grant the ACCC data breach settlement final approval following a hearing on October 8, 2026. Compensation will begin to be distributed to class members only after final approval has been granted and any appeals have been resolved.

The American Consumer Credit Counseling class action lawsuit alleged that the nonprofit financial counseling service failed to implement reasonable cybersecurity measures to protect confidential information in employee email accounts from a data breach that occurred between January 27 and February 18, 2025.

Per court documents, sensitive information that may have been compromised in the breach included Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account numbers, and payment card information.

Did you know that some class action settlements require no proof to submit a claim? Check out the latest open class action settlements.