Consumer complaint received 2021-09-09
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: CA
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:
Synopsis : Experian wrongfully removed a perfectly valid account ( XXXX  # XXXX. ) from my credit report. I have made them aware of their mistake and provided documents from XXXX that prove that the account is in good standing and that I am an authorized user. Experian has not corrected their mistake and informed me they can not correct it. That is of course not acceptable and they need to accurately report my credit. Details are outlined below. 

Detailed Outline : I got my credit report from Experian for XX/XX/XXXX. They wrongfully reported my revolving credit utilization percentage. On XX/XX/XXXX I filed a dispute of this incorrect revolving credit utilization percentage on my Experian report. I pointed out that I have an additional account ( listed on my Experian credit report ) with XXXX  ( # XXXX. ). This XXXX account has a substantial line of credit that obviously was not considered for my revolving credit utilization percentage. 
Experian confirmed open dispute procedures on XX/XX/XXXX ( Document A ) but misinterpreted the dispute about the revolving credit utilization percentage as me disputing the XXXX account. As a result of their misinterpretation of my dispute, Experian contacted XXXX. XXXX did not respond ( because I am not the primary holder, I am an authorized user of the account with access to the credit line ). Experian then removed the XXXX account from my credit report ( Document B ). This is wrong because the account is in good standing and I am an authorized user and have access to the line of credit. 
I contacted Experian about this issue on XX/XX/XXXX. They had no explanation for what happened. I contacted XXXX. They explained to me what happened on their end. I then contacted Experian again ( and again, and again ) explaining what had happened. I finally got Experian to understand what had happened. They even acknowledged that they misinterpreted the dispute I sent about my revolving credit utilization percentage and that they should have never contacted XXXX in the first place ( because revolving credit utilization percentages are not subject to disputes ). However, they also insist that now that Experian has made this mistake, and as a result wrongfully removed a perfectly good account from my credit report, they still can not do anything to fix it. 
I contacted XXXX again to request documented proof of the good standing of the account and me as an authorized user. XXXX sent this proof ( Document C ). I contacted Experian again, letting them know that I now have documented proof from XXXX and that I will file a complaint with the CFPB and the state attorneys office if they do not correctly report my credit including the XXXX account. Experian told me that the dispute office is closed and I need to call back the next day. I did. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Experian again, and their dispute office told me to upload the proof I have from XXXX via their online system to be reviewed within 24 to 72 hours. I did so and included the following written statement : This is proof that Experian was incorrect in removing this account. My dispute was never about the account. It was about my revolving credit utilization. Experian misinterpreted my dispute. Experian has now been informed several times by phone and herby in writing with documented proof that this is a perfectly valid account ( for which I am an authorized user ) that needs to be reflected on my report. If Experian still does not report this account on my report Experian will be in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) ( 15 U.S.C. 1681 and following ) due to willful noncompliance. I will submit a public complaint to the CFPB, the state attorneys office and, if I incur any damages will file a lawsuit against Experian. All I am asking Experian to do is to report my credit accurately. That is the very reason for the existence of Experian. Experian should be just as interested in getting this correct as I am. 
I received confirmation for successful receipt of this upload on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX PST ( Document D ). 
I got an email from Experian on XX/XX/XXXX telling me that my credit score has dropped ( Document E ). So the damage has been done, verifiably. I am currently actively looking to purchase a home and a lower credit score is very likely to negatively affect our mortgage conditions so this needs to be rectified as soon as possible. 
I then got another message telling me that my dispute from XX/XX/XXXX has been completed ( Document F ). When I follow the link Experian sent, it tells me that the results are not available online and that I need to call ( Document G ). When I called the dispute department they did not even understand that I had disputed that my XXXX  account was wrongfully NOT listed. So they were not able to resolve the issue and just tried to connect me to a supervisor and when that did not work set up a call back from the supervisor which of course never came ( they had tried the same thing a couple of days ago, same result, no call back, ever ). 
So I had no further option than to file this complaint. 

p.s. Experian has phone records of all the conversations ( you know : recorded for quality insurance purposes or some such ) I had with them. This includes the original language of my dispute that proves I never disputed the XXXX account, just the revolving credit utilization percentage. Experian should also have the original written dispute I submitted ( I never received a copy from them ).

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