Consumer complaint received 2020-05-21
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NC
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Information belongs to someone else

Complaint:
I am the victim of identity theft and fraud through an ex girlfriend which occurred over a two year period from XXXX of XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX. I filed charges against this person for impersonating me and stealing thousands of dollars through XXXX credit cards of mine, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX. Two of these cards, XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX cleared the fraudulent debt immediately with no trouble, but XXXX has continued to improperly report this debt to intentionally damaged my credit report through false reports. I have attempted to resolve this issue for more than a year on my own to no avail. 
The XXXX card " investigators '' of the fraud claim have fabricated information making such claims as I provided access to these cards on my own free will, allowed the ex to use them, and even that I was liable because we co-habitated making this a civil matter. I have asked them for documentation to show me where this evidence was gathered, but they refuse. I have never allowed this ex to use my cards and made it clear she took them without my permission, yet they filed reports that it was consensual and permission granted. I have asked for copies of their card agreement with the section highlighted showing me where this would be considered civil as a basis for this decision and they refuse ( I presume because it does not exist ), and have even asked for a copy of my agreement to where I signed this agreement binding me to these terms and contract, to which one was never been provided, either electronically or through the mail. At no time was the person who stole this money given permission to access or use my credit cards, thus resulting in two felony charges with my local police department of identity theft and credit card fraud. I have provided these police reports to XXXX who refuses to accept them. Instead, XXXX insists this matter is civil as a way to avoid honoring their fraud guarantee they promote in solicitation of their cards. When asked how I am not protected on this fraud protection guarantee, they continue to state their review has resulted in the investigation being deemed civil. XXXX is knowingly damaging my credit for a debt they have been provided proof is the result of fraud. They refuse to accept these documents and are the only company I have had any issues with as a result of this fraud. I have provided disputes to the credit bureaus and XXXX XXXX deleted the entry, yet XXXX and Equifax continue to report this charged off card as valid because they state XXXX has provided them responses that the debt is valid. 

I have no other late payments or derogatory marks on my credit history other than XXXX. I have threatened XXXX  with legal action, to which the representative literally laughed stating I was bound by their arbitration agreement and they would choose the arbitrator and I would have to pay, so " good luck ''. I understand this clause is an attempt to save time in the court system, but it is also to make it impossible to provide a fair trial in front of a judge. I then suggested XXXX should simply sue me in court if they felt it was a justified debt, because I would never repay this debt and would be happy to explain this in front of a judge who would dismiss their case. Naturally, XXXX refuses to accept this offer because they know they can not win as my evidence and officers who took the fraud report and investigators working the case can testify to the legitimacy of the fraud. So, the attempt by XXXX to prevent me from having this account deleted is purely for intentional damage to my financial health as well as to harass me to try to get me to break and settle this debt. 

I am filing this complaint against Equifax as they are a party to this fraudulent account continually being reported on my account. While XXXX may choose to submit false information to the credit bureaus, it is the job of the credit reporting agency to verify this information as accurate. To date, the responses I receive from Equifax on these complaints is that " they verified the information as accurate that was provided to them by XXXX ''. Equifax is a culpable party to this complaint as they are not using the evidence provided to them, they are simply reporting back what XXXX states without also verifying evidence. Equifax was provided an updated copy of the police report from the XXXX, NC police department where an additional charge of Felony Identity Theft was added against XXXX XXXX XXXX, the actual person that committed the fraud using the XXXX credit card. By choosing to ignore this police report which clearly states I was the victim of identity theft and credit card fraud, Equifax is negligent. At this time, XXXX Bank has absolutely no evidence contrary to the evidence I have provided showing I am the victim of fraud. Therefore, Equifax having no further evidence provided by chase, ( other than assumptions ), is also negligent for allowing this damaging information to continue to report on my credit bureau. Unless XXXX can provide evidence contrary to the reports provided by the XXXX, NC police department, Equifax would have only their word, with no direct knowledge of the situation, and actual police reports from my side of the dispute. It would appear that Equifax is either failing to investigate this dispute, or simply ignoring evidence provided by myself and copying whatever XXXX Bank tells them to put on my credit bureau. Regardless of the reason they state the information has been reported as accurate, Equifax is derelict in their duties to protect consumers from inaccurate information as they have not actually provided any investigation into this matter. I am attaching the most recent dispute results from Equifax where they clearly state " This creditor has verified to OUR company that the balance is being reported correctly ''. This is not how a dispute should work, a creditor can not simply put that the person is disputing the account as being wrong simply because the creditor SAID the account is accurate. No evidence was provided, no one with personal knowledge of the situation is involved, and no documentation was provided contrary to my police statements taken by Detectives working a fraud case against the person who charged up my cards. Equifax has NOT completed a true investigation and must delete the account immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation