Consumer complaint received 2019-08-30
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Complaint:
Equifax : Has been a nightmare. Froze my account on a supposed fraud alert. I relocated to retire from XXXX to XXXX. Sold my farm ; transported horses, dogs, farm equipment alone as I am widow with help of my niece. Arrived in XXXX to my new condo bought outright in cash and my electric and water were frozen due to " bogus '' freezing of my account. I had not basic living requirments for me and my dog with XXXX in 100 degree heat no water nor AC nor electric. XXXX XXXX froze my account due to Equifax. I had no cell phone as I don't use them. Used my nieces cell to contact Equifax ; took 8 long hours of answering ID questions many of which I could not answer as all my files were in the move. I could not get my utilities turned on. In desperation I worked with XXXX to call back Equifax another 3 hours and  attached my nieces cell to try to get my electric turned on and the fraud alert released. ALL THE WHILE the agents were trying to sell me Equifax products as a threshold of getting my account cleared. I was not interested in Equifax products and will NEVER do business with them again. In the meantime I recently applied for a bridge loan to buy a precertified used car. Equifax denied my credit rating and locked me out of my credit yet AGAIN had never rectified the bogus fraud alert. Im the  meantime I was locked out of my XXXX XXXX XXXX, and locked out of XXXX XXXX   and even XXXX to buy the necessary car as my XXXX XXXX can not be serviced here in XXXX, I have to drive 100 miles to XXXX to service it. I explained my situation and my banking and credit history to the CFO at XXXX who went ahead and approved my loan but Equifax still has the Fraud lock on my account. I tried calling to Equifax and could to get through their phone lines. I was informed by XXXX who had in the past made small farm loans to me based on my excellent credit history that somehow in the relocation Equifax was again denying me my credit history based on my nieces cell phone number. The original fraud alert was still on the account and never removed. I have since both faxed and snail mailed Equifax with all the corrective data for my account including my phone phone and new address and address history which was incorrect in their file. No appropriate instructions were available to send this information to a rep or agent but only to a POB or an anonymous fax. I have no recourse to know if the information has been received ; how it will be corrected ( finally ) if the fraud alert that is freezing me out of my credit history yet again will finally be removed. They are to my mind a corrupt and abusive organization. I have no debts, an excellent credit history that has taken me years to build. I am a widow and have no children so my credit is very important to me to be able to function. All they want to do on their website is to market their subscriptions and force one to join in order to get any kind of movement on keeping their files clean and up to date. They have no motivation to service my file as I am not a paid subscriber and their marketing in my face has been abusive from the beginning of my experiences with them. I have never had problems with XXXX  or any of the other companies but this company stands head and shoulders over the others in their abuse of the consumer ... who does not choose to subscribe to their bogus service. This on top of the fact that they were hacked last year for millions of IDS so why in heavens name should I trust them? I feel as though they want to force me to pay for a subscription just to get the lock removed from my file and history and I found this corrupt and I repudiate them for their abuse of power. Who made the XXXX in the credit world? One in which they can not even keep the files of their own clients safe? Please help me get my file corrected and the corrupt lock removed from my credit history so I may move forward with my new life here in my mature years. Many thanks XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation