Borrowers with an Arizona address whose vehicles Hughes Federal Credit Union repossessed between May 18, 2019 and August 4, 2023 will be paid automatically from the $7 million Hughes Federal Credit Union repossession class action settlement, with an average check estimated at about $1,067; there is no claim form to file. Claimed deficiency balances are also eliminated unless a borrower opts out of that part by November 20, 2026, and the final approval hearing is December 7, 2026.
Current Status
There is no claim form; payment is automatic if the court approves the settlement. The court granted preliminary approval on July 30, 2026, and the final approval hearing is scheduled for December 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in Pima County Superior Court in Arizona. The court has not ruled on final approval, and no payment date has been announced. November 20, 2026 is the deadline to opt out, object, or decline the deficiency compromise; it is not a claim deadline.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
Judge Greg Sakall of the Superior Court of Arizona in Pima County preliminarily approved the settlement in Harrison, et al. v. Hughes Federal Credit Union, No. C20232230, in an order filed July 30, 2026. The order certified a settlement class, set the November 20, 2026 deadlines and the December 7 hearing, and approved mailing notice to class members. The settlement also resolves a related case brought against the credit union in the same court in June 2025.The first lawsuit was filed on May 18, 2023. The plaintiffs allege that Hughes Federal Credit Union, a Tucson-area credit union, sent borrowers notices after repossessing their vehicles that did not comply with Arizona’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code, and they sought statutory damages. Hughes denies any liability, denies that its notices or practices violated any law, and denies that the class is entitled to any recovery. The parties reached the settlement after three mediations, the last in February 2026. No court has found that Hughes did anything unlawful.
Who Qualifies?
The settlement class covers people who financed a vehicle for personal use through Hughes Federal Credit Union, or through another lender whose finance agreement was later assigned to Hughes, who pledged the vehicle as collateral, and whose vehicle Hughes repossessed or ordered repossessed between May 18, 2019 and August 4, 2023 while they had an Arizona address.The preliminary approval order says Hughes’s records identify 3,815 repossessed loans, some with co-borrowers, for a total of 4,548 borrowers. Class members were identified from those records and notified by mail. Anyone who opts out is no longer in the class.
How Much Can You Get?
The settlement has three parts, and class members who stay in receive all three automatically.Cash comes from a $7,000,000 settlement fund. Before anything is paid out, the fund covers administration costs, up to $2,800,000 in attorneys’ fees and up to $50,000 in expenses that class counsel will request, and $15,000 service awards for each of the two class representatives. The court can award less. What remains is divided pro rata, per repossessed loan, based on each loan’s finance charge and amount financed. That tracks the statutory damages formula in Arizona’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code for consumer-goods transactions, which is the finance charge plus 10% of the principal. The settlement agreement estimates the payments at about 14.69% of full statutory damages and the average check at about $1,067. Those are estimates; larger loans produce larger payments, and the settlement website shows an estimated award to class members who sign in.
Claimed deficiency balances are the second part. A deficiency is what Hughes says a borrower still owed after the repossessed vehicle was sold and the sale proceeds were applied. Hughes represents that those claimed balances total about $25,603,000. The parties dispute whether Hughes is entitled to them, and the settlement resolves them through accord and satisfaction, which eliminates them, for every class member who does not decline that compromise. Excluded claims are not covered, including claims where a borrower reinstated the loan and got the vehicle back before auction.
Credit reporting is the third. Within 60 days after the settlement’s effective date, Hughes will ask Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and any other credit reporting agency it reported to, to delete the trade line for the repossessed loan and its deficiency. The bureaus are separate companies, and the settlement agreement limits Hughes’s obligations if a bureau does not act on the request.
If more than $150,000 is left after the first round of checks, from uncashed or undeliverable payments, a second distribution goes to the class. Anything remaining after that is split between Angel Charities and the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education, for consumer credit education and advocacy programs for low-income Arizona consumers.
Is Any Proof or Notice ID Required?
No proof is needed and there is no claim form. Class members do not have to document their loan, the repossession or a deficiency. The settlement website asks for the Notice ID and PIN printed on the mailed notice only for optional steps: looking up an estimated award and choosing an electronic payment method instead of a check.The one condition that matters is the mailing address. The settlement agreement defines the class members eligible for cash as those whose mailed notice was not returned as undeliverable. The settlement website has an Update Address page for class members who have moved.
What Are the Deadlines?
Because payment is automatic, there is no deadline to file a claim. Three other deadlines all fall on November 20, 2026, and each is a postmark deadline for a document mailed to the settlement administrator:- Opting out. A class member who opts out receives no cash, no deficiency relief and no credit reporting request, but keeps any right to sue Hughes separately over the same claims.
- Declining the deficiency compromise. A class member who returns the Election Not to Accept Compromise of Disputed Deficiency Balance form stays in the class and keeps the cash and credit reporting benefits, but Hughes’s claimed deficiency for that borrower is not resolved by the settlement. The form was mailed with the notice and lists the borrower’s claimed deficiency amount.
- Objecting. A class member who stays in can file a written objection with the court and mail copies to the administrator and counsel; the notice lists what an objection must contain.
The notice gives only the date for each deadline, without a time of day or timezone.
How Do You Take Action?
Nothing has to be filed to be paid. The official Harrison Repo Settlement website, run by the court-appointed settlement administrator, posts the notice, the settlement agreement and the preliminary approval order. It also has pages to update a mailing address, check an estimated award, and select a payment method, the last two using the Notice ID and PIN from the mailed notice. Payments are sent by check unless a class member chooses one of the other available methods there.The opt-out request, the deficiency election form and objections are all mailed rather than filed online; the notice describes what each one must include.
What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the final approval hearing on December 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in Pima County Superior Court. The court will consider whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, whether to enter judgment, and the requests for attorneys’ fees, expenses, service awards and administration costs. Class members may attend at their own expense but are not required to.Under the settlement agreement, payments are issued no later than 30 days after the effective date, and the effective date is 31 days after the final approval order if no one appeals. An appeal would delay it. No payment date has been announced.
Sources and Verification
This page is based on the court-approved class notice and the deficiency election form, the preliminary approval order filed July 30, 2026, the Class Action Settlement Agreement and Release, and the settlement website at Harrison Repo Settlement, in Harrison, et al. v. Hughes Federal Credit Union, No. C20232230, Superior Court of Arizona, Pima County. The notice is embedded below. The class size comes from the preliminary approval order; the cash eligibility condition, the payment timing and the case history come from the settlement agreement; the benefit amounts, deadlines and hearing date come from the notice and the website. The notice, the settlement agreement and the order do not name the administrator firm; the settlement website’s court documents and privacy policy are hosted by American Legal Claim Services, LLC.Questions
Does anyone have to file a claim to get paid?
No claim form exists. If the court grants final approval, class members who do not opt out are paid automatically by check, and their claimed deficiency balances are eliminated. One condition applies to the cash: the settlement agreement limits payments to class members whose mailed notice was not returned as undeliverable, so an up-to-date mailing address matters.
How is each payment calculated?
The net fund is split pro rata based on each loan’s finance charge and amount financed, per repossessed loan. That mirrors the statutory damages formula in Arizona’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code for consumer-goods transactions, which is the finance charge plus 10% of the principal. The settlement agreement estimates the average check at about $1,067, roughly 14.69% of full statutory damages, but individual amounts vary with the size of the loan.
What happens to the deficiency balance Hughes says is owed?
Hughes represents that class members’ claimed deficiencies total about $25,603,000. Unless a class member returns the Election Not to Accept Compromise of Disputed Deficiency Balance form by November 20, 2026, the settlement resolves that balance through accord and satisfaction, which eliminates it. The relief does not cover certain excluded claims, including where a borrower reinstated the loan and got the vehicle back before auction.
Will the repossession come off credit reports?
Within 60 days after the settlement’s effective date, Hughes will ask Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and any other credit reporting agency it reported to, to delete the trade line for the repossessed vehicle loan and its deficiency. The credit bureaus are separate companies, and the settlement agreement describes the limits of Hughes’s obligations if a bureau does not delete a trade line after the request.
When will the checks go out?
No payment date has been announced. Under the settlement agreement, payments are issued no later than 30 days after the effective date, and the effective date is 31 days after the court’s final approval order if no one appeals. The final approval hearing is December 7, 2026, and the court has not ruled. An appeal would push the effective date back.
