Consumer complaint received 2020-09-03
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: DC
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Unable to get your credit report or credit score
Sub-issue: Other problem getting your report or credit score

Complaint:
I am sure that you get a lot of unsubstantiated vague allegations, and I apologize for adding to the pile. However, as a matter of justice, equity, and transparency, I must complain about the how the credit bureaus act arbitrarily, unfairly, and I suspect in discriminatory ways. 

I recently have had the good fortune of being able to pay down {$10000.00} of my credit card balances. My score had dropped because I had high credit utilization ( which makes sense ). In an effort to reduce my credit utilization, I made extraordinary efforts to find a way to reduce my debt by {$10000.00} in less than 3 months. As I result, I have seen a significant drop in my credit score, which is illogical. When I researched why this could happen, I found an abundance of credit industry crafted marketing material masquerading as informal opinion about why a drop could occur. 

1. I ask that the CFPB investigate the credit bureaus to inquire as to why and how they drop credit scores when revolving debt is paid down ( since the information is proprietary ).

2. Require credit bureaus, financial, credit, or lending industry assn 's, and others to disclose that they are providing advertising information and not objective information when they seek to provide credit information and often suggests that the way to improve your credit score is to seek additional credit, which is very convenient for them. ( there are 1000s of industry written opinion pieces that conceal a clear conflict of interest ).

3. I also ask that you investigate how the 3 bureaus use an individual 's gender, race, or information that can be used as a proxy for race ( e.g, zipcodes ) to determine credit scores and to what extent they account for documented XXXX bias in the financial services industry In general, I think the credit bureaus essentially act like a government actor in that they have the ability to prevent your access to finances, educations, homes, and jobs, yet they don't seem to be regulated and they are not required to provide consumers with any transparency about their decision making. In addition, consumers subject to their determinations, without ever formally opting in with the credit bureaus, so consumers have no standing or recourse to get any information from the credit bureaus. They are also notoriously hard to get basic customer service information from as many will not even take phone calls from consumers. 

Americans should not be subject to an all-powerful, private entity without any safeguards against overreach, or any formal public oversight that regular demands that the bureaus provide transparency. Also, I have grave concerns about bureaus funded by the financial service industries and wonder what measures for independence are in place. 

Apologies for any typographical errors. I appreciate your consideration although I understand that this is the type of case that you willl likely dismiss on its face. I want the historical record to show that Americans complained and sought assistance. 

Thanks for your hard work.

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