Consumer complaint received 2022-03-18
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a complaint through XXXX in an attempt to procure their assistance resolving a matter with XXXX XXXX/Equifax that I have tried many times unsuccessfully to resolve on my own. The case number was XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received this update from Equifax. 
" Thank you for submitting your complaint through the CFPB Complaint Portal. In your complaint, you indicated that there were inaccurate or incorrect items reporting on your credit file. Please be advised that an investigation with the furnisher of the information has been initiated. When the furnishing company provides their findings, we will send those results to you. We hope this resolves your concerns. If you have any additional questions, you may call XXXX ( XXXX ) or you may visit www.myequifax.com. With myEquifax, you can create an account to manage your security freeze, add or remove fraud alerts, and initiate credit file disputes. Additionally you can access free Equifax credit reports and other products. '' However, this is what concerned me, " Please be advised that an investigation with the furnisher of the information has been initiated. When the furnishing company provides their findings, we will send those results to you. '' There has been ZERO response from XXXX this whole time. Hence my inability to resolve this on my own. Additionally, I never received any information form Equifax to show what information the " furnishing company '' provided to Equifax to prove how this account was established to begin with. 

The complaint was closed on XX/XX/XXXX with no resolution to this matter. The fraudulent information remains on my credit report and to date, I still have not received a response from XXXX regarding how the intent to resolve this matter so this information can be removed from my credit report. 

Below is the information provided in the first complaint : On XX/XX/XXXX my wife and I contacted our mortgage lender regarding initiating a home refinance. At that time he notified us that there was an account with a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX that was reporting a past due payment of {$2.00}. As a result, my credit score has been greatly negatively effected. Prior to the information from our lender, we had absolutely no knowledge of this account. I, nor anyone in my household ever applied for credit from, or had ever even heard of XXXX XXXX for that matter. We have never received and correspondence from this company in the form of account information, notice of an application, a bill, a late payment notification, nothing. This is because I, nor anyone in my home, ever applied for this line of credit. Immediately contacted XXXX via email on XX/XX/XXXX to alert them of the fraudulent account, request an investigation and have this removed from my credit report immediately. 
" Hello, We are in the midst of applying to refinance our home. Our lender just alerted us to a credit line that was taken out in my husband 's name in XX/XX/XXXX. We have never applied for credit through your company. This was done fraudulently on our behalf. Additionally, your company recently reported a late payment of {$2.00} on this account to the credit bureau last month. This late payment report has dropped my husband 's credit score from high 700 's to XXXX. We are now unable to refinance the house as a result. 


2 things we need assistance with, closing this account immediately, as it was opened under his name fraudulently. 

Secondly, we need the " late payment '' report to be reversed and reported to the credit bureaus so we can raise his credit score back to where it was previously. We will also be reporting this fraud to all three credit bureaus. 

Please reply at your earliest convenience with next steps to resolve this issue. Please also feel free to call me at XXXX. 

Thank you. 

XXXX XXXX '' I received this response on XX/XX/XXXX. 
On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX CST, XXXX XXXX wrote : Hi XXXX XXXX, We understand how disconcerting this can be and will do our best to help resolve this. To locate an account under your husband 's personal information, we will need to confirm his information. If you could please provide us with his full name, last 4 of his SSN and your current address, we will investigate our system and get back to you on what we find to resolve this issue. 

Best, XXXX XXXX replied with the information they requested and received this response on XX/XX/XXXX. 

" XXXX XXXX XXXX, Thank you for providing that information. I was able to locate the account in question and have closed and deactivated it at this time. In your prior email you stated you are wishing to have this account removed. I would advise that if you are still wishing to have this removed, please file an official dispute with the bureaus so they can forward over the information to our investigation team for them to review. Please know investigations and resolution of the dispute can take up to 25 business days from the date we receive it from the bureaus. 

Best regards, XXXX '' So I immediately contacted XXXX and Equifax and began a dispute with them, as they are the only 2 credit bureaus that XXXX reports to. I just received the results of the dispute and was incredibly disappointed to find that their investigation did not resolve this matter. I am now taking steps to do everything I can to have this removed from my credit report and have this resolved. This has effected my credit score so negatively that it has limited our families ability to refinance our home. 

I have contacted XXXX again today, XX/XX/XXXX and copied XXXX and Equifax on the email. This is the email I sent. 

" Good morning, We have received the results of the fraud investigation completed by XXXX and Equifax. Both of the investigations found there to be no reason to change or remove the XXXX credit account from my credit report. This is reference to XXXX dispute # XXXX and Equifax dispute # XXXXXX. I can only surmise this is a result of information provided to the investigator by XXXX. This result is absolutely inaccurate and incorrect. 

The account in question was opened fraudulently in my name and without my knowledge. The account then immediately defaulted on a {$2.00} minimum payment on a {$24.00} balance. I have a long standing, excellent track record of paying my accounts on time and as agreed. There is absolutely no way, if this were an account, I was responsible for and had any knowledge of whatsoever I would allow this account to default and payment to be past due on a {$2.00} payment/ {$24.00} balance. I have received zero correspondence from XXXX in the form of a bill, a late payment notice, a letter informing me of the status of this account, an account number, etc. Nothing. And that is because this is not my account, was not opened by me or any one in my household. I had absolutely no knowledge of this account, until pulling my credit report in preparation for a possible home refinance. I was shocked to find this on my report and reached out to XXXX immediately for resolution. I received a response that XXXX had closed the account, but that I would have to contact the individual credit agencies if I wanted this removed from my report. I did so immediately. And here we are now. With no resolution. 

Since then, I have reached out to XXXX multiple times for a status update on this investigation, with no response. I am requesting that XXXX immediately reports to parties at both XXXX and Equifax that this account was allowed by XXXX to be opened fraudulently in my name. And this account and it's " late payments '' be removed from my credit report immediately. This egregious mistake and oversight on the behalf of XXXX has now caused my credit score to be greatly affected. This is wrong and must be corrected immediately. If this is not resolved in the next 15 business days, I plan to pursue action with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and our State Attorney General. I expect a response in writing from XXXX by close of business today on how you plan to rectify and resolve this mistake and correct my credit report. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX I am hoping your agency can help resolve this matter. Without your assistance I am afraid we will not be able to rectify this issue and reverse the damage done to my credit report and our families future. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation