Consumer complaint received 2023-05-03
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: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
Company : Experian Problems : Gross incompetence, unresolved error on credit report, still unresolved after 17 months. 

In XXXX I had a legal name change and notified Experian of this change. The date of submission of this initial personal information dispute was XX/XX/XXXX with an estimated resolution time of XX/XX/XXXX. 

On the same day of this dispute 's creation, XX/XX/XXXX, I received two worrying notifications from Experian. The first reads, " The spouse or co-applicant name has been updated on your report. '' The second notification reads, " You no longer have a FICO score. '' I was not adding a spouse, I am unmarried, and there's no reason for me not to have a credit score as I was only updating information on an existing account. 

I have already been through the process of updating my name with all of my creditors. Much later in this process on XX/XX/XXXX an Experian supervisor on the phone named XXXX told me this could be a glitch caused by other parties continuing to either report or request credit information with my old name. Since the old information was previously my legal name, it may have confused the system and caused errors. She was not willing to tell me who these parties were which means I can not correct that issue with them directly. 

From XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX I had gone through a lengthy process of validating my updated legal identity including submitting documents of the change in name. On XX/XX/XXXX I received my credit score again. As far as I knew this process was over and so I didn't check back with Experian for a while. 

On XX/XX/XXXX it said, " You no longer have a FICO score. '' The exact same message I received in XX/XX/XXXX. This however only appeared on Experian 's website and I was not notified of this error occurring a second time. I only discovered this one year later when checking my report. 

I went through the whole process for a third time and they were again able to retrieve my score on XX/XX/XXXX. Just one day later they lost my score again with the same message, " You no longer have a FICO score. '' For a fourth time I contacted Experian and did the process again. I asked what is happening and someone told me that Experian knows my updated name and has that on file but is only recording data for the old name. Since it can not attach the data to the updated account, it is effectively throwing all of my credit information in a paper shredder and that's why I don't have a credit score with Experian. 

Humans at Experian are manually attaching the information to the updated name which is what brings back my score but then their faulty computer system loses it just as quickly. 

I asked for a manager or anybody else with greater control over the system to make whatever changes necessary to fix this permanently. I can not live a normal life until this is fixed. I can't apply for mortgages, health insurance, or anything else most other people are able to regularly obtain. My financial life will be extremely complicated until Experian can just fix one error on my account which has not happened in 17 months. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received my credit score again and was hoping that this was all over. On XX/XX/XXXX I lost my score again. 

I went through the process for a fifth time and the case has been marked closed except I still don't have a credit score. It did not even temporarily come back. 

I still haven't even brought up the level of incompetence displayed on the phone. Nobody had any clue what to say to me and I was constantly being transferred between departments. Phone calls with Experian can take over an hour. On one occasion someone had transferred me to a department that was closed. An automated voice told me they were closed and it hung up on me. I had to call Experian again and go through another long process just to speak with someone. 

Today on XX/XX/XXXX I was going through the process for the sixth time but they reached new lows of incompetence. I had been transferred from the initial representative to the dispute department. This person told me the best thing I should do would be to cancel all credit cards and loans originally created under my old name. He said that only accounts created entirely under my new name would appear on my credit report. This is a very bold instruction to give as it would mean wiping away six years of credit history dating back to XXXX. If this is incorrect then this would make the situation worse and could never be repaired. He was wrong about this advice but thankfully I knew that. 

I told him that I do actually have a credit card created entirely in my new name. I opened an XXXX XXXX card in XX/XX/XXXX. This card however was also missing from my report. His advice was completely incorrect and if I followed it, would have destroyed my credit history and make situation much worse. 

He placed me on hold while he tried to find more information. He then said this would be something to solve with their membership department and transferred me there. The lady who answered was confused and said this had nothing to do with membership. She then gave me the phone number to " the FICO department of Experian. '' The number given was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. This was not in fact a department of Experian, it was an outside company that gives advice on credit but has no ability to modify my credit report. It was completely useless advice to send me there. 

The person who answered was very kind although she had no power to help. She suggested I make complaints about Experian to this site. I am at my wit 's end with Experian. I have made 6 attempts over 17 months to have this issue resolved and do not believe Experian will ever correct this without outside intervention.

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