Consumer complaint received 2018-05-07
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
I've noticed on an governmental website that the reporting agencies are required to remove inaccurate information, disputed at the consumer request ; Especially in the event that there has been some sort of prejudice of conflicting information with the account data or without supporting information from a reporting creditor. It is not an acceptable response for a creditors statement to be as simple as " the information remains, '' and even more frustrating if a consumer rights with fair lending rights and/or laws were subject to prejudice with the account. ( Ex. Prevention of account access including payments and maintenance of loans. ) DISPUTE : Any dispute that has been initiated by me has been because the information is not correct or it should not be reported due to some type of discriminatory practice. The credit reporting agencies are required to update the report as requested. 

INQUIRIES : I've noticed that there are a high number of inquiries on my report and by institutions that I did not give permission or authorize to have any access to the credit information. I can attest that I have attempted to obtain credit with a few lenders but the additional inquiries shouldn't be on my report. It may be an circumstance of identity theft ; They have not proceeded with the removal of those unauthorized inquiries. 

SCORING MODEL : Although the information being reported to these potential lenders has not be accurate, I believe that there may still be some prejudice to the credit score that they are delivering. Please keep in mind, the negative information that shouldn't be reported is several years old and has damaged the report within the first delinquency date. It should not continue to be so volatile and definitely shouldn't be still impacting the score heavily, but it is significantly impacting the score today. And with over 10 years of positive credit history with Education Loans, Auto Loans, Credit Cards, Installment Loans vs. 2-4 negative accounts.

ACCOUNTS NOT REPORTING : There have been several accounts that have been removed from the report. And commented that even though I did not initiate the removal, it can not be added back to the account. I was not able to find any information about this procedure but I do believe that the information should be reported. Especially with me notifying them of the missing information. 

UTILIZATION : It has become frustrating that an account that has been closed, and is not an active account, reports utilization like an open revolving line of credit. The consumer does not have ability to access the funds within that account and does not rely accurate information about a creditors current lines of credit usage. The account technically if in a closed status and whether charged off, " meaning the financial institution received financial compensation through an tax write-off, '' should not be calculated on the consumers current utilization trends. -It just doesn't show the true character of the available credit and the monthly usage, and reaches controversy to the common knowledge of the long-term effects of negative information on a credit report.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation