Consumer complaint received 2020-05-12
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
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:
In XX/XX/XXXX. I changed my first and last name by court order with XXXX XXXX county. At a similar time, all of my open credit accounts, bank accounts, mortgages, social security, and employment information were updated to my new first and last name by my request. Because each creditor regularly sends updates to credit bureaus, XXXX  updated the information. 

XXXX did not automatically update the information to be correct, when I discovered this in XXXX. I sent a letter to the address suggested by their website, and they promptly corrected it. 

Equifax did not automatically update the information, so I checked their website for how to dispute ( help.equifax.com ). I found instructions to use their website or mail them, and call if neither works. When I had sent a letter to their office with a copy of my court order name change document, they still have not updated it. I was unable to submit a copy of my court order electronically as well because their sign up system did not work each time I tried. I called their number on XX/XX/XXXX and they asked my to resend it, even though I had already attempted that and it did not work. I have reason to believe they are trying to deflect blame from themselves in an attempt to not appear negligent about their credit report accuracy, because XXXX  had no issues when I updated using a similar process. Furthermore, they asked me to ask my creditors to sent it on my behalf when they already send updates to credit bureaus once per month, so for whatever reason Equifax is refusing to act on current information being reported to them. I have also asked a lender to update with them today, but it is doubtful that this will happen given the past history. If Equifax is in the business of keeping accurate credit reports, a reasonable course of action for them would be to contact the creditors, and verify the information themselves instead of trying to blame the consumer for Equifax 's credit report not being accurate. 

I think Equifax is participating in an unfair consumer practice as a credit bureau because it is their responsibility to update their credit reporting information when creditors and / or the lendee provides information to them. Both me the lendee, and my creditors have sent information to them over the course of the past two years, and as of today, XX/XX/XXXX they have made no attempt to update the information they report nor have they made any attempt to correct the information by reaching out to one of the creditors they have one file for me. As of today, XX/XX/XXXX. Equifax only keep records of of my previous name up to the end of XX/XX/XXXX because they have been negligent about updating their records about me despite providing evidence over the phone and sending mail proving my identity, and the fact that other credit bureaus as well as the social security administration have updated all records associated with my social security number, name, address, and phone number on their files. 

If a credit bureau, like Equifax, is negligent about updating their credit reporting records. What purpose do they serve exactly? They do not appear to be fulfilling their business promise to creditors because they do not keep accurate nor up to date records about their clients such as myself, even when provided the information. I provided all the information I could to Equifax in good faith and they still do not update ; therefore, I feel like I have no choice but to file a complaint with the federal government because they are not fulfilling the promise to the creditors as a business that claims to provide accurate credit reports.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation