Consumer complaint received 2020-05-08
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: GA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Was not notified of investigation status or results

Complaint:
Dear XXXX Department, This credit dispute is being submitted as a new evidence dispute. The accounts that are being disputed, does not belong to me. Below is my sworn statement concerning these credit issues. 

It is my sworn statement that I declare under penalty of perjury ( " under the laws of the United States " if executed outside of the United States '' ) that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Further, I certify that I am qualified and authorized to file this dispute. I also understand that knowing and a willful misstatement or omissions of material facts constitutes a federal criminal violation punishable under 18 U.S.C. 1001. Additionally, these misstatements are punishable l1S perjury under 18U.S.C. 1621.

The tradelines listed below are items currently within my credit file, and none of these are related to any transaction that was made by me. It is my official statement that someone and/or several people have opened these accounts and made transactions on these accounts without my knowledge or authorization, my personal information has been used to obtain goods, services, or money : and the person ( s ) responsible for creating these accounts. 

I have filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission, which I have enclosed within this dispute package. I have reached out to all of these creditors and have made them aware that these accounts were fraudulently opened, and they have known this for several months, but have yet to remove these accounts from my credit reports. Some of the creditors have been cooperative and have removed the accounts, but others have refused to remove the fraudulent accounts. Therefore, I have come to you, the credit reporting agencies to resolve these issues. The law says that you must block these accounts while being investigated, and I expect that you will do so. 

I made an attempt to file a police report, but I was informed by XXXX XXXX that it did not constitute as an emergency and that they would not file the report because I didn't have any information on the person who used my information, nor did I know how my information was obtained by this person. 

Policy states ...

According to the FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT " FCRA '' 611 ( 15 U.S.C. 1681 ), Procedure In Case of Disputed Accuracy ... 

( a ) Reinvestigations of Disputed Information ( 1 ) Reinvestigation Required ( a ) In general. Subject to Subsection <t,, if the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer 's file at a consumer agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly, or indirectly through a reseller, of such dispute, free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation to determine whether the disputed information is inaccurate and record the current status of the disputed information, or delete the item from the file in accordance with paragraph ( 5 ), before the end of the 30day period beginning on the date on which the agency receives the notice of the dispute from the consumer or  reseller. 

Therefore, my position is being clearly stated, these accounts do not belong to me, meaning that you are reporting inaccurate account information within my credit file. The fact that these are inaccurate account information means that you, this credit reporting agency, are reporting incorrect accounts. 

Finally, you are reporting the INQUIRIES that are the result of the same type of fraudulent activities. It must be noted that I did not apply for credit accounts with the below-listed companies and creditors, some of these are the result of attempts to open accounts, but the companies did not approve these accounts. Therefore, these inquiries must be deleted from within my credit file. You can not delete the fraudulently opened accounts without also deleting the fraudulent inquiries. 

Inquiries that are made by someone else without my authorization is nota factual record of access to my credit file, it is a factual record of fraudulent activity, and it must be addressed as such. The reason that these inquiries are being disputed is that they were not made by me, and when I report this to you, it is your responsibility to investigate my claims, and when you can not prove that these inquiries were made by me, they must be removed from my credit file. It is not my responsibility to go directly to each creditor, the obligation lies at your feet because you are reporting inaccurate information within my credit report, and this violates the FCRA. 

It should be noted that an inquiry that was not made by me is not a factual record, just as a fraudulently opened account is not a factual record and not referred to the creditor to be disputed directly with them. The credit reporting agencies have attempted to address an inquiry as a factual record of file access, but if it was done through fraudulent means, it is not a factual record. As a consumer, I should not be required to dispute each fraudulent inquiry directly with each company. These inquiries are the result of fraudulent activity and therefore inaccurate information in which the credit reporting agencies or the creditors can not verify, meaning that these inquiries are unverifiable information and must be deleted from out of my credit file. 

INQUIRIES : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  I am aware of my rights as a consumer. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that you, the credit-reporting agency, report accurate and/or correct account information within my credit file. My credit issues are very specific, these accounts and/or items do not belong to me. This means that you are reporting incorrect account information within my credit report. It is that I request that these listed accounts and items be BLOCKED and DELETED!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation