Consumer complaint received 2023-05-26
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Personal information incorrect

Complaint:
I attempted to check my credit report through Equifax for the first time in my life during late XX/XX/2023. Upon accessing my online Equifax account, I became aware that my Equifax credit file was littered with all sorts of inaccuracies including errors in personal information such as social security number, revolving accounts, installment accounts, collections, and hard inquiries. Because even my social security number was incorrect, I strongly suspect my credit file was accidently merged with another individual with a similar name. 

I called Equifax in late XX/XX/2023 and I was informed that they were having trouble verifying my personal identity and that this issue would need to be resolved before any further action. I was instructed by a representative to send a letter to Equifax seeking to verify my personal identity by including my personal information as well as copies of a government-issued ID and my social security card. I was told I would receive a follow-up communicatin via physical mail once the documents were received and processed. 

On XX/XX/2023, I followed these instructions and sent a detailed letter including my personal information, copy of my Florida driver 's license, a copy of my social security card, and a copy of a recent bank statement to Equifax 's XXXX XXXX XXXX located in XXXX, GA XXXX. The USPS office I used for the mailing was XXXX XXXX XXXX located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX. 

Furthermore, I purchased Certified Mail tracking for this letter, and the tracking number is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. According to USPS 's online tracking, the letter was successfully delivered to Equifax 's XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2023. I confirmed this through a phone call to USPS today XX/XX/2023. 

Today, XX/XX/2023, 16 business days after Equifax was delivered my letter and personal documents, I called Equifax attempting to learn the results of my identity verification since I did not receive any confirmation or follow-up communications from Equifax regarding the mailed documents. Multiple representatives as well as multiple supervisors at their XXXX XXXX Consumer Affairs informed me that my documents were not appearing in the system. Furthermore, because my documents were apparently not in the system, my identity was still pending verification, and so they could not tell me anything that happened with the documents. They instructed me to mail the letter with the documents a second time in order to resolve the issue. 

I desperately need my credit file 's personal information to be corrected because I am attempting to apply for federal graduate student loans for medical school tuition and living expenses beginning XX/XX/2023. It has been nearly a month that I have been trying to resolve my personal identity with Equifax. I followed Equifax 's instructions, but it seems they have mishandled my documents and are refusing to communicate to me what has happened with them. I know they received my documents because like I previously said USPS confirmed as much to me. Furthermore, they are obligating me to spend time and additional money mailing my documents a second time to fix an error of their own creation : their own mishandling of my documents. 

There is 0 guarantee that Equifax would properly handle my documents this second time. Furthermore, I would have to wait several business days once again to find out the results of the attempted identity verification, so by this point they are failing to resolve my issue in a timely manner. Equifax is committing consumer abuse by erroneously mixing up my credit file with another individual 's, holding my credit file 's personal information hostage for an indeterminate period of time, mishandling my personal identity documents, forcing me to spend additional money mailing them documents a second time, and refusing transparent communication about why my initial documents were not processed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation