Consumer complaint received 2020-06-24
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CO
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 truly can't believe the after the what must be hundreds of hours on the phone, writing letters, checking reports, faxing, email snail mailing, certified mailing.. that in the end, after two years of being an identity theft victim I find myself ready to finally just throw my hands up and say " forget it. '' over a hundred dollars a month in reporting fees to stay on top of the never ending on slot of fraud that hits my reports regularly. I pay for XXXX XXXX  report, Equifax 's Premium, XXXX Premium, XXXX 's XXXX and XXXX Premium. And no.. its not because I am crazy or obsessive or love having my credit score be the sole fixation of my life. 

It's because the credit bureaus are actively fighting back on a daily basis against my legitimate paperwork, the facts they can not deny and the knowledge I have developed about how each on of them play their games to block you from being able to recover fully from anything so that you have to keep paying them to ensure you havent let anything slip by. 

In the two years of fighting fraudulent applications, nonstop inquiries, fraudulent loans that are somehow taken out on a social security number I have been told numerous times by people in the industry " has been deleted from public record '' I just don't know what else to do. Persistence has literally aged me at least a decade.. my feet swell from sitting in a chair so long at work and then the rest of the night writing statements like this one, my wife and XXXX have to constantly endure a life absent of me while I mount a never ending battle against those that determined to see us destitute . And even if I were to use every word I know to convey this to a credit bureau agent, whether is be by phone, certified letter, fax or upload- and believe me I do all four.. they seem so desensitized by the day to day attempts at thwarting the system that they are failing an active participating family hard. 

My daughter and I almost died due to a XXXX XXXX just before XXXX  last year- we immediately served our landlord with a fix or quit letter who immediately served us with a lawsuit. That seems to be the running theme of the world lately, total, disgusting, unconscionable, completely devoid of morals or empathy and a complete lack for the well-being of anyone but themselves and theirs. 

Well it just so happens that this apartment complex was also ground zero for my wife and I 's major credit issues. We moved into, at the time what we believed to be a " neat '' thing '' Smart Apartment. It came with a router preinstalled for the smart features and a big perk was cable and internet being ready to go upon move in. One " perk '' we were unaware of was the hacker that had taken over that router- whether previous tenant or one of the many short term business stays they took in.. This hacked for 6 months we came to find out, had our computers completely taken over and logged, our phones, our wallets ... even our credit reports I am pretty sure as XXXX  still has never bothered to investigate how inquiries were allowed to penetrate one of their freezes. 

So with that being said- and believe me if that is 300 words- that is 290 more words than the credit bureaus agents let me get out before hanging up on me or cold transfering me to an unmonitored voicemail box. I get the feeling when I am speaking with these agents that they do not believe a word of what I am saying as I am always met with such anger, callousness, straight hatred when I even mention the acronym FCRA or the world Block. They always cut me off and file 90 day disputes no matter what I say or the fact that I have 4 police reports, 4 FTC reports and mountains of supporting documents that I have sent them. And yes it is ridiculous to have 4 police reports.. It should be clear that if I have one FTC report and one Police report for " Identity Theft '' that clearly there is going to be more  identity theft than what is mentioned at the time of the police report. 

I have had to obtain 4 or 5 of each when it has come to 6 months to a year of battling fraudulent data that I just can't get them to follow the law on. They actively screen my calls- whatever they see when they open my report instantly changes the tone of their voice and I have received 1 or 2 letters that pretty imply I am lying. That a sane person would definitely apply for the same XXXX XXXX credit card 13 times in a row in a two week period.

And you know what I can deal with all of that- they want to treat my familys future like a game.. then FINE i'll play the game even though its rigged. But I dont know how to play if I can't see the board. And that is what it has come to. It started with XXXX  in XXXX of 2019. My report stopped updating, I stopped receiving the notifications that I paid a fortune for. I spent countless hours on the phone with the " Special Handling Fraud '' team and their online team as they sent ticket after ticket " up '' which never came back with any answer as to why it access to my report was slowly fading away. 

I soon after learned that due to something totally unrelated and equally insane.. that my wife and I had been " deleted from public record '' due to XXXX XXXX XXXX entering our information into what one of their employees called " their master brain computer '' incorrectly. They entered me and my wife in as " Cust1 '' and " Cust2 '' when we went into to change providers, devices and phone numbers due to the hacker that was harvesting our data on our old ones. So now.. to this day.. I can no longer be verified FOR ANYTHING. My family has been stuck living in a hotel room since last XXXX through a Pandemic because of identity theft, the credit bureaus and of all entities.. XXXX XXXX XXXX . 

SO I legitimately believed that this was causing an issue with my XXXX  report and I spent months trying to convince them of this.. I eventually and still do think I have a split file.. In fact their online team insists that I do while the only team I am allowed to discuss my report with- also the team that is in office the least and the least accessible, the " specialized fraud team '' states that I do not. Well now it has gotten so bad that XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX themselves, etc.. I can not view my report on any of the sites normal people can. All sites either say error or that I do not have a file or do not have enough history to have a file.. I am XXXX I definitely do. 

Well its gotten to the point where my own bank can't even identify me, XXXX by my social and when attempting to open a personal account, even though I had four business accounts with them- they couldnt do it without a credit check and me coming in to a bank. In doing so- I was stalled for days because there was no way to remove the free that had been put on my report. I log into my paid profile and there is no info there and it just says " Freeze Status Unknown.. '' I call the number put in my pin it says there is an issue an hangs up. I talk to a rep and they cant help me because only the specialized handling team can and they arent in until Monday. 

I could go on for days about how bad this has actually gotten for me but I literally have to move on to another credit issue after this one and I still haven't even gotten a chance to sleep yet tonight and its XXXX. 

So I finally after no joke 3 hours of trying, 4 hang ups, 2 we do not have a direct line to the United States, 4 long and serious identity checks of which all are passed.. I finally get to this team today. The guy couldn't care less and doesn't understand why I am not just satisfied with fixing whatever problem of the day is wrong with my report. He then goes on to tell me that MY REPORT HAS BEEN BLOCKED THE ENTIRE TIME ON PURPOSE BY XXXX. The infuriates me.. They have no idea how much time, money, effort and my whole freaking life for the last 2 years I have put in to getting my family out ahead of this. 

And not only did they perpetrate this false issue with my report for over 6 months and drive me absolutely mad, put strain on my marriage, my childs life, my health.. But they charged me {$24.00} a month to do it. This agent remained short and when I asked questions that made perfect logical sense just stuck to his script. " My credit report was blocked online for my own protection due to fraud '' and " no there is no one that can unblock it. '' According to him my only was of obtaining my report is to spend three hours attempting to get ahold of that exact department any time I sense fraud because they aren't even allowed to tell me whether or not there is anything derogatory on it or not.

I am AN IDENTITY THEFT VICTIM I am the one that needs to see it regularly. Blocking me from it while still allowing others to dictate it and use it against me and my family should be and I am pretty sure IS AGAINST THE LAW.

His only response was to ask me if I would like him to mail me out one- to which I attempted to explain to him that besides the fact that what he is saying is insane and clearly just a method for XXXX to not have to deal with identity theft victims because their whole deal is selling PERSONAL information.. but as we are unable to rent or buy a home due to creditworthiness I DONT HAVE A PERMANENT ADDRESS AND THEREFORE NEVER RECEIVE THE REPORTS WHEN THEY SEND THEM. In fact our address has been officially changed so many times now by someone other than us that my wife and I, despite having a PO BOX do not receive ANY MAIL AT ALL. NONE. So them sending my reports out to whatever address they have put on my file this week is not helping. 

Whats worse is now all three reports have started to do it. The ONE ONE I can still even see ( because I pay A LOT for it ) is XXXX  ) and they wont let me dispute anything, upload documents, or do anything outside of look at the fraud hitting my report daily anymore. Now their agents act like every inquiry that is fraudulent and or every inaccurate detail needs its own FTC and Police Report attached or they out right refuse to do anything. 

This last round of Police and FTC reports to address accounts that have been left to sully my reports for months have all been faxed and certified mailed in and I have confirmed been received.. and despite them removing transunion claiming ( because I can not see it ) to remove all of the fraudulent information- 2 collections and 1 fraudulently opened and delinquent account, XXXX  who manages to grab a snapshot every couple months or so.. just reported that they did in fact remove all of that.. which should mean my report is 100 % derogatory free.. great credit mix, great payment history, decent debt to income ration ( 48 % ) considering.. yes I still only have a XXXX credit score. How is this? 

Equifax and XXXX.. yea they just completely ignored all of the documents and all I can do is keep sending them until someone with a soul responds. This needs to be fixed immediately my family deserves a home of our own. It has eaten away at every bit of our savings and I fear what we are heading to with wrecked ( or non existent/hidden ) credit scores, no savings and no access to credit. I really do. 

Please Help- this is XXXX  me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation