Consumer complaint received 2021-12-03
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
For the past several months I have been attempting to recover from several instances of identity theft. Despite paying for a premier fraud monitoring plan with XXXX, I didnt become aware of the thefts even as it continued until I applied for a business loan and was denied in XX/XX/2021. 

Seven years ago I knew a few accounts were delinquent following a divorce and my ex wife not following our settlement agreement despite the judges reprimands. Accounts under my name were paid late as a result and I knew the seven years were up based on personal memory, bank records, and lawyer fees and our divorce date. 

I didnt expect to see car loans and hospital bills and an eviction from the recent past. XXXX got in the way and did everything it could to hinder the next steps in recovering from the identity theft. 

1. There isnt a dedicated fraud specialist. And there isnt any inside assistance provided on how to best coordinate a response. I never got one email from a fraud specialist answering my questions. 

2. No one told me that I had potential insurance for identity theft related expenses until after I had performed much of the work on my own and had done so without any expert advice that the insurance claims it would pay for. But its highly unlikely anyone ever receives this assistance because I had a reservation of right letter emailed back to me just a matter of days after I submitted my initial request for a lawyer and to be reimbursed several hundred dollars for usps mail charges ( receipts for everything were included ). I needed a lawyer to help me do the things the carrier said needed done but the carrier denied my request for that lawyer because I couldnt provide certain evidence first. 

3. Eventually I had all eight accounts removed stemming from the identity theft. I submitted dozens of online and mailed disputes. XXXX does utilize a document upload feature for online disputes but it doesnt work. Oftentimes I would spend more time trying to correct an error alert from their dispute page only to find out even after corrected that the dispute required me To mail in yet another copy of my ID, police report, etc etc. There is no central location for a consumers so literally every attempt at communication requires another ID and supported paperwork. Thats great if you offer a modern system that allows seamless verification or if in the alternative the us mail system was reliable and timely. 

4. Several months later, I am still battling XXXX to remove four accounts that are over seven years old and should have been removed long ago. ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX ). Additionally, there are at least XXXX recent hard credit inquiries that they wont remove that are clearly not connected to me. The four accounts are the same ones that stem from the divorce now eight years ago and the inquiries are from the past year when the last thing I was doing was authorizing anyone to pull my credit.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation