Consumer complaint received 2018-04-19
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: GA
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: Investigation took more than 30 days

Complaint:
There are several glaring inaccuracies on my Experian credit report that I have submitted quite a few online disputes including documentation in the past few years with no recourse. OnXX/XX/XXXX, I sent Experian a certified formal notarized request ( with copy of my ID, SSC and clearly stating my current mailing address in the body of the letter as well as on the envelope - which was certified as received on XX/XX/XXXX ) asking them to reinvestigate and verify several of these accounts. I also requested the description in which they would be using to verify these accounts as it seems my requests for a legitimate investigation have simply been blown off. In response, I basically received a copy of my credit report save for a few updates ( dated XX/XX/XXXX ) and a few accounts stating the information was " certified '' ( with no information on the description they used to " certify '' any of the information ).

Please note, prior to Experian receiving my initial formal request on XX/XX/XXXX for them to verify the specific accounts listed, I had already personally reached out to a few of these creditors directly and had in my possession documentation that several of the accounts Experian for years listed as being derogatory had already either been PAID - as well as correspondences going back over 3 years where the creditors stated they reached out to Experian on several occasions and yet nothing happened. I even have copies of my receipts of payments to one of the main creditors that I have vehemently disputed for years - ALL of which were already previously sent to Experian. In addition, I have letters from creditors stating outright that they themselves could not locate my accounts in their database. Yet somehow Experian is continuously able to " certify '' the information with these very same creditors? It is not unreasonable to doubt that any investigation/reinvestigation of ANY of these accounts ever occurred.

I then sent my second request ( notarized and certified WITH a copy of my ID and SSC ) to Experian on XX/XX/XXXX exercising my rights under the FCRA further insisting on their methods of verification. I also requested a copy of the original creditor 's documentation that by law they are supposed to have on file. If they had neither method nor documentation on file, not only did I insist on my right to have the accounts deleted, but I also included several of the above listed creditor responses AS WELL AS additional supporting documents from XXXX   and XXXX XXXX ( one of Experians own partners ) who both so happened to notify me on XX/XX/XXXX of the FIVE credit databreaches ( INCLUDING ONE INVLOVLING XXXX ) that I was reported to have been involved in during the past few years. I included these notices and creditor letters in my request as an effort of good faith hoping that someone would finally take my requests seriously and simply do the job of actually verifying the information on my report. However, that was not to be as I THEN received a response from Experian dated XX/XX/XXXX stating they have taken no action in regards to my second request because they needed a copy of my Social Security Card, DL, utility bill, etc. As EXPERIAN ALREADY CONFIRMED that I successfully updated my new address with Experian onXX/XX/XXXX and had already submitted all of the above in addition to the fact that I listed my new address in my previous correspondences, not to mention the fact that my ID & SSC WAS LITERALLY COPIED ON THE REQUEST as well I had my it was notarized, I realized that no one at Experian was actually taking my requests seriously ( as they clearly werent even reading the information ) and this was simply a stall tactic.

Nevertheless, I persisted. On my third attempt on XX/XX/XXXX, I mailed yet another certified AND notarized request ( just as I had before ) to Experian advising them that it had now been 56 days since my initial request for a reinvestigation. I insisted that the unverified accounts be removed as they were now in clear violation of the FCRA, yet those accounts remained. Instead, what they DID do was send me a notice dated XX/XX/XXXX ( a full 70 DAYS from Experian 's certified receipt of my first request ) referring my back to my original credit report if I had questions regarding the reinvestigation.

Outside of the blatant FCRA violations, I also personally think the Experian is extremely negligent in how the handle disputes. Rather than doing the right thing by the customer, theyd rather brush off bonafide requests as applicable under the law or use stall tactics versus actually doing the job of verifying the information they are reporting is accurate. This shows a deeper insidious pattern of Experian intentionally thwarting customers from demanding fair credit reporting on their part. With my documentation, I believe I can clearly show that even after a more than decent amount of communication and effort on my part, a reasonable person can see that Experian clearly never did the reinvestigation they claimed to have completed since they received my initial request way back onXX/XX/XXXX, that they aren't above using silly tactics to attempt to stop customers from following up and demanding their rights be upheld and they definitely did not handle this before XX/XX/XXXXwhich was the duration of the timely 45 days as required by law.

Please note, after logging this complaint, I will also be emailing this to Experian CEO, XXXX XXXX. Thank you

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 non-monetary relief