Consumer complaint received 2022-12-20
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: VA
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: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX - XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I was notified by my credit reporting monitoring that someone had attempted to obtain credit in my name from a company named XXXX. On this day they had attempted to obtain credit from 5 other organizations but my complaint relates to XXXX. 

Within an hour of them attempting to and obtaining credit, I was on the phone w/ XXXX. I called XXXX at XXXX XXXX and spoke to a woman named XXXX XXXX I immediately let her know that this was a fraudulent credit application. She said she was going to flag the item to prevent it from being shipped and also notify the XXXX XXXX department so they could begin their internal fraud process. We also spoke of the need to remove the hard inquiry from my credit report. Our call lasted for 15 minutes XXXX did not take any of the actions she said she was going to do. 

On XXXX I submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I called XXXX again and this time spoke to a supervisor named XXXX. He said that XXXX had not notated my account as fraudulent but he was going to do that. In the course of the call he indicated that the item was indeed shipped out to someone. He said he was going to document my file and email the loss prevention team so they could mail me a package of information as a victim of identity theft. XXXX also stated that they would make sure the inquiry was removed from my credit report. This did not happen. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. This was the same day as the previous dispute XXXX dispute. They are responding to my disputes quite quickly and with absolutely no investigation On XXXX I reach out to XXXX XXXX the XXXX XXXX and XXXX at the XXXX XXXX ( the company that owns XXXX ) I reach out to XXXX via XXXX and explain my situation. He does not respond. 

XXXX I submit a XXXX  complaint about my situation to XXXX XXXX the organization that owns XXXX. They responded on XXXX saying that I need to call into XXXX and let someone know that it is fraud. This is despite my XXXX  complaint explaining that I had already done that and they had not kicked off their internal fraud process and keep responding to e-XXXX  that this is a valid inquiry. I notate that this is violation of FCRA and XXXX. As of today they have not responded to my response inside of the XXXX  platform. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

On XXXX I called XXXX again and spoke to a XXXX named XXXX. She said she did see the notes from XXXX on my file and that they he had notified the loss prevention team and that my account was flagged as fraud. Despite my account being flagged as fraud XXXX continues to report that this is a valid credit inquiry. XXXX promises me she is going to escalate the file, reach out to loss prevention and that she will personally call me the next day. This again did not happen. She also says that the same person has attempted to place other orders with XXXX with the fraudulent account they created in my name and XXXX blocked it because it was fraudulent. 

On XXXX I again submitted a credit report dispute via Equifax and XXXX to XXXX to remove the hard inquiry indicating I was a victim of identity theft. They responded by saying that the inquiry was valid. 

As of today I have disputed this inquiry 11 times. XXXX knows and acknowledges that this account is fraudulent and they are attesting inside of XXXX  and to Equifax that they have investigated. None of this is true. My attempts to resolve through normal channels including phone, the credit bureaus, direct outreach to executives, and the XXXX  are all failing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation