Consumer complaint received 2020-06-03
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: CA
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: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Experian Credit Reporting Bureau in regards to a pending dispute. My call was to verify that they received documents that were requested by Experian to dispute fraudulent items. Per my conversation with a fraud specialist, I was informed that Experian had in fact received my police report, ID, social security number and proof of residency. The agent informed me that the disputes were concluded on XX/XX/XXXX and that the disputed fraudulent items remained. I insisted that the agent review my documents filed with my local police department to verify that the items I disputed were included in my financial crimes report. The agent then verified the police report and informed me that she would block and delete the fraudulent accounts from reporting the disputed items and that the items would be removed from my credit within 3 hours. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to check my credit file with Experian to see if the disputed items were in fact removed from my credit file. After reviewing the information in my file, I noticed that one of the disputed items were removed but not the other. I then contacted Experian again requesting that the remaining fraudulent account be removed. After a 2 hour call and while the agent consulted with her supervisor, the agent eventually told me that the remaining fraudulent item would not be removed due to the fact that I hand wrote the information contained in the financial crimes police report. She went on to state that Experian would not accept the report and that I would then have to submit an FTC theft report. 

As of today XX/XX/XXXX I have made 20 attempts to utilize Experian 's online upload tool as instructed by the fraud agent to deliver my FTC report and have been unsuccessful in doing so. I consistently receive the following message " unable to upload your documents. I saved the FTC report I filed on XX/XX/XXXX in pdf format directly from this website : https : //complaint.comnsumerfinance.gov. The file is 87 kb in size and well within the file limit size that Experian accepts. 

At this point in time, Experian is not cooperating as they are required to do by law when a customer has proven that they are a victim of identity theft/fraud and are refusing to delete and block fraudulent information from my credit file using baseless excuses. The agent or her supervisor could have simply called my local police department to verify that the financial crime report was in fact valid if they had any valid concerns. This same financial crime police report was used the prior day XX/XX/XXXX by another fraud agent at Experian to remove a fraudulent item from my report. I find it hard to believe that in less than 24 hours later Experian has changed their policy and was now unable to use the same police report to delete and block fraudulent information as required by law and by their own stated guidelines for assisting victims of fraud and identity theft. 

The background to this complaint is that I was notified by Detective XXXX of the XXXX Police Department in California that I along with 12 others were victims of identity theft as the police arrested two individuals who were in possession of personal information including, copies of passports, ID 's, tax documents, W-2 's, birth certificates, car registrations, medical information, credit cards etc., that were not in either of the suspects name. I also sent a copy of this 50 page XXXX Police Department crime report to all three credit bureaus including Experian as proof of my claim. Experian told me they could not use the ID theft report filed by the police because it contained redacted information. There was redacted information in the report as there were 11 other victims whose information was protected. The police department gave me a copy of the redacted report, left my information open and there was nothing I could do about that. However, Experian refused to use that report and requested a financial crimes report filed by me which is exactly what I mailed to Experian. They later stated that they awere unable to use the financial crime report because I hand wrote my info. 

At any rate, I have tried to clear my credit of 2 fraudulent accounts by submitting every single item Experian required of me yet, they are unwilling to remove one of these fraudulent accounts which is a credit card opened fraudulently by XXXX XXXX even though I had an existing security freeze on my credit file dating back to XXXX. This type of action should not be allowed and Experian should be held accountable and forced to verify the information they require if they have concerns instead of making it virtually impossible for victims of fraud to clear their credit. These are horrible tactics and will do nothing but bring another unnecessary class action lawsuit against them if they continue to refuse to help victims of identity theft and or fraud.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation