Consumer complaint received 2018-07-11
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: DE
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2018 I received an alert via my credit monitoring app, XXXX, notifying me that a new " account/collection '' has been added to my credit report, lowering my score 71 points! Through further investigation, the collection that was on my credit report was from XXXX XXXX XXXX for a medical bill in the amount of {$810.00}. When business operation hours came about, I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX and with deeper investigation, they ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) confirmed that this account in fact does not belong to me because the medical bill was not even my medical bill. XXXX XXXX XXXX agreed to remove my name from the account and to put the account under the correct person 's name.They also agreed and promised to contact all three credit reporting agencies ; XXXX, XXXX, and Equifax, to have this collection removed from my Report. I was also informed NOT to file a dispute on my own with either credit bureau or It could result in the account remaining on my report. I then requested from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX that they send me a letter of verification stating the aforementioned. I have since received the letter in the mail and so far XXXX and XXXX  has removed this account from my credit report. On XX/XX/2018 I checked on my credit report to see if Equifax had deleted the collection, and they had not done so. I then called XXXX XXXX again to see what was going on. I spoke with the manager of XXXX XXXX, who has been incredibly helpful throughout this entire process, and she promised me that she would do a second manual deletion on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX to have the account deleted immediately. The first manual deletion was between the dates of XX/XX/2018-XX/XX/2018. She said to give it 30 days and to contact her if the account had not been removed by then. On Thursday, XX/XX/2018 I called the manager of XXXX XXXX XXXX and reported that Equifax has not yet deleted the medical bill and that over 30 days had passed. She then, provided me with the audit control number to write down, so that I can provider that to Equifax as proof of the second manual deletion that she had performed on XX/XX/2018. I then called Equifax and spoke with several representatives and managers, giving them the audit control number that was provided to me from XXXX XXXX XXXX, and they would not take time to research the manual deletion and proceeded to say that they can not do anything about it. When I asked to speak with a manager, I was transferred to XXXX ( Employee ID # XXXX ). I explained to XXXX what was going on and she too refused to take the audit control number. I then told XXXX that I would call XXXX XXXX XXXX on 3-way. Per XXXX, it was against her company 's rule to call the lender for verification, so that's why I done so myself. I connected both phone calls and had the manager of XXXX XXXX XXXX state the specifics of the account and that It did not belong to me. Equifax manager, XXXX, was unresponsive the entire conversation with XXXX XXXX XXXX manager. XXXX XXXX was aware that the call was being recorded and carefully stated her name, the audit control number in which she requested the second manual deletion on XX/XX/XXXX, and stated that the account did not belong to me and requested for deletion. Since XXXX was unresponsive, I disconnected the call with XXXX XXXX XXXX 's manager and asked XXXX did she get all of the information that was provided from XXXX XXXX XXXX. She then stated that the account still will not be removed. I then asked to be transferred to her manager and I was transferred to XXXX ( Employee ID # XXXX ) and he as well gave me the same response. With talking with several representatives from Equifax, the entire phone duration was over an hour and a half with the issue not being resolved. Until this day, XX/XX/2018 this medical bill has not been removed from my account, even with written and verbal proof that it is not my debt. I do not know why or how a verbal statement was not enough for Equifax, being that I had to go through this exact same process with XXXX and they eventually called XXXX XXXX XXXX themselves on a 3-way call and got verbal confirmation that this medical bill of {$810.00} does not belong to me and thus they have removed it from my account. Equifax Credit Reporting Agency has not been helpful in this matter at all and refuses to delete the account even with proof that it is not my debt. Again, XXXX XXXX XXXX, special recognition to the manager,  has been incredibly helpful in helping get this account removed and providing any and all information needed for successful deletion. The complaint is solely against Equifax Credit Reporting Agency.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation