Consumer complaint received 2017-09-22
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: VA
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:
I discovered that I had been a victim of identity theft back in XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX and contacted each bureau including Equifax Specifically regarding a {$31000.00} loan that was open with XXXX XXXX ( Loan No. XXXX ) as listed on my report. 

On or about XX/XX/XXXX I followed up the dispute with a phone call regarding the fraudulent XXXX XXXX  account number XXXX and was advised that I needed to file a police report and provide a fraud affidavit and resubmit my dispute for the account to be blocked and deleted from my credit file. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, after filing the police report ( filed on XX/XX/XXXX ) and FTC Fraud Identity Theft Affidavit I resubmitted my dispute to Equifax 's Office of Consumer Affairs for the identity theft report for the fraudulent XXXX XXXX Acct Number XXXX and they have still refused to block and delete this fraudulent account that was opened with out my permission ort consent. 

In addition, Equifax had removed the fraudulent XXXX XXXX ( Acct No. XXXX ) account from my credit report after my XX/XX/XXXX dispute as shown in the updated Credit Report number XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX. But on or about XX/XX/XXXXEquifax had reinserted the fraudulent account back to my credit and never notified me within five business from the reinsertion date pursuant to FCRA Section 611 ( a ) ( 5 ) ( B ) ( ii ) that the previous deleted account was being reinserted. Which this action is a clear violation of FCRA for Equifax 's failure to properly notify me of the account being reinserted to my credit file. 

On top of that, Equifax due to some breach ( Equifax 's Office of Consumer Affairs explained that my credit file got too large ) or error removed almost 30 of my credit accounts from my credit file leaving only the fraudulent XXXX XXXX Account listing on my file. I followed up with the Office of Consumer Affairs and spoke with XXXX XXXX and she reviewed the matter and saw what had occurred with my account being erroneously deleted and removed and advised that she would have to have a technician correct my credit file and get the accounts from my XX/XX/XXXX credit report added back to my credit file. ( In about 1 week the technician called me back and advised the all my credit accounts had been added back to my credit file that had been deleted improperly ). 

XXXX XXXX further advised that their office would retain the investigation for the fraudulent XXXX XXXXl XXXX account as she was not sure what documents were sent to the creditor on this account. 

On or aboutXX/XX/XXXXand XX/XX/XXXX, Equifax 's Office of Consumer Affairs sent electronic and fax letters to each of my creditor credit accounts ( approximately 30 ) and advised that my initial account applications with them were fraudulent and that I was disputing the accounts as fraudulent or either the credit cards were lost or stolen. 
I was notified by this action by Equifax 's Office of Consumer Affairs by XXXX as I was trying to make a payment on my XXXX XXXX Account and was notified that my card had been lost which I never had made any such report on any of my accounts excluding the fraudulent loan account with XXXX XXXX XXXX ( loan no. XXXX ) pursuant to my dispute letter dated XX/XX/XXXX 

By Equifax 's actions each of my credit accounts ( 30 ) were either completely canceled by each creditor or placed on hold by there fraud and security dept. I called Equifax 's onXX/XX/XXXX Office of Consumer Affairs and I spoke with XXXX XXXX again and explained to her what I was advised by XXXX regarding the electronic and fax letter notifying each of my creditors that my application to open the account was fraudulent or I lost or had my card stolen. XXXX XXXX researched and advised that their office had indeed sent out the notification in error and did not understand why the technician sent that fraud notification to all my creditors rather than the one credit account that was being disputed XXXX XXXX XXXX. When in fact, XXXX XXXX advised that the XXXX XXXX Account Listing had not even been disputed all all my valid account had been. XXXX XXXX further advised that she would shut down the investigation from myXX/XX/XXXXdispute and recommended that I contact each one of my creditors and advised them that Equifax made a mistake in sending out the fraudulent notification but could not provide me any explanation as to why they took this action. 

onXX/XX/XXXXAs she requested ( I did not understand why they would not correct their own mistake ) I contacted each one of my creditors in writing and by phone and providing them a copy of the actual dispute that I submitted to Equifax on XX/XX/XXXX that showed I only specifically disputed the fraudulent XXXX XXXX XXXX listing ( Account No. XXXX ). I further advised that I did apply for each of those accounts and would request that the accounts be reinstated and all my creditors reinstated my accounts and reissued my cards which would take 7 to 10 days or up to 30 days to receive the replacement cards. 

On or aboutXX/XX/XXXX, I was speaking with the Fraud & Security Dept Rep trying to get my account reinstated and they advised that they needed something from Equifax stating that they made the error ( which made since to me since they made the mistake ). I immediately called Equifax 's Office of Consumer Affairs again requesting to speak with XXXX XXXX, the manager supervisor advised me that XXXX XXXX was not available and she could help me. So I explained the entire mixup as aforestated aboveand she reviewed the notes and advised me that it was nothing that she could provide and did n't understand why my accounts were deleted and could n't understand what I was asking them to do but refused to permit me to speak with XXXX XXXX or any other party and then told me she was ending the call and hung up on me. I was totally dumbfounded as to Equifax 's Office of Consumer Affairs supervisor acknowledging that they had screwed up but refused to assist me to correct their mistak as XXXX XXXX had requested that they fax a letter directly to all my creditors as they previously had done in error. 

Over the last few months Equifax 's has turned my credit life into complete chaos and refused to correct their errors which I had to spend 3 weeks while trying to assist my father that had just had a XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. in addition, Equifax has refused to block and remove a fraudulent account from my credit report that has caused me additional harm even after providing their office with the appropriate police report and fraud affidavit as they requested.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation