Consumer complaint received 2017-07-29
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX
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:
My credit report contains errors that is keeping me from being approved for credit. While this is a serious fact, what is more serious is what REALLY happens when I actually have disputed these errors on my credit report with a Credit Bureau. As I use " Consumer Protection '' and " Consumer Rights, '' these groups try to make me feel confident by explaining that any errors on my credit report have to be " Investigated '' by the credit bureaus and, any information which the bureaus are UNABLE to verify within 30 days, must be DELETED from the consumer report. All that is required to make this happen is for me to mail a letter ( or go online ) in order to " initiate '' the investigation process. Sounds great..because I have heard this before. When i hear the word ... '' INVESTIGATION '' in regards to an item ( s ) on my credit report I am challenging, I usually picture some variation of the following three step process : STEP ONE : An employee at the Credit Bureau receives my dispute and personally reviews it. During this review they gather information and documents in regards to the disputed account by contacting the original creditor agency etc. ( a.k.a. The Data " Furnisher '' ). STEP TWO : The Credit Bureau Employee then reviews copies of original documents like the Credit Application, Billing Statements, Billing and Payment Statements, or notes in the account looking for any errors in reporting. If anything is in question they will request proof from the " Data Furnisher. '' STEP THREE Once a " complete and thorough '' investigation has been completed, the Credit bureau employee will then update the consumers account according to the results of the investigation. What really happens when I dispute all items on my credit report is " Optical Character Recognition, '' this allows the Credit Bureaus to deal with over 20,000 dispute letters they receive each day including the various letters that I have sent to dispute my incorrect negative entries. I also verified that the disputes used to cost the Credit Bureaus about {$4.00} each to process, but due to technology and overseas outsourcing, they have reduced that cost down to around .95 cents. This process left me hopless to fight any wrong entries on my credit report because any disputes that are attached to a letter ; from me or my attorney, the letter is electronically scanned with " Optical Character Recognition '' and matched against a DATABASE of " Boiler Plate '' Dispute Letters commonly used by Credit Repair Companies or found in Software Programs and Credit repair Books. My dispute letters " matched '' one of these letters in their database and my letters was 1. ) Flagged as FRIVALOUS 2. ) marked as SUSPICIOUS 3. ) Completely IGNORED. When any of my disputed letters was SCANNED and did not match that of a " Boiler Plate '' Dispute Letter used thousands of times, my scanned version was and have been sent electronically overseas for processing in a country like XXXX, XXXX XXXX, or XXXX XXXX. There, an outsource employee who does n't even speak English as their native language looked at my scanned dispute and then turned it into nothing but a TWO or THREE Digit Code. Even with supporting pages of detailed documentation supporting my claim it is still converted to a TWO or THREE Digit Code. To make anything that I am doing to correct my credit report, the incorrect reporting is all done with an automated system the Credit Bureaus created called e-Oscar, which stands for Electronic Online Solution ( for ) Complete ( and ) Accurate Reporting. How am I able to fight a computer system? The e-Oscar system takes my dispute and usually uses a pull down " Pick List '' to convert the dispute into just 1 to 26 Different Dispute Codes. Even worse, of these 26 Dispute Codes, one of my disputes fell under the same 5 codes : " NOT MINE '' | " ACCOUNT STATUS '' | " INACCURATE INFORMATION '' | " ACCOUNT AMOUNTS '' | " ACCOUNT CLOSE '' Once my disputes are converted to one of the " Standardized Dispute Codes '' within the XXXX system, the code is sent to the Data Furnisher ( a.k.a the Original Creditor or Collection Agency ) using a standardized form known as an " Automated Consumer Dispute Verification Form ( or ACDV ). This request is sent to the Data Furnisher via the XXXX System. An ACDV merely consists of a few items of identifying information about me, the consumer, the Dispute Code and in some cases, additional notes. Any supporting documentation like : Account Applications, Cancelled Checks, Billing Statements, or Pay Off Letters, or Confirmations etc. are not included in these electronic communications between Data Furnishers and the XXXX XXXX. All of my disputes are essentially converted into nothing but a " Dispute Code. '' There is NO MECHANISM IN PLACE for the Credit Bureaus to send any of my Supporting Documents and Proof of any of my claims to the Data Furnishers. BATCH INTERFACE is being used as well. The fair Credit Reporting ACT ( FCRA ) states that all Data Furnishers MUST perform a REASONABLE INVESTIGATION, but how reasonable can it be when everything is AUTOMATED?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation