Consumer complaint received 2022-05-17
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX
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:
In XXXX I was notified that my personal information was leaked and that I was likely to become a victim of identity theft and fraud. I began to monitor my credit and was told to also order my reports from XXXX XXXX a data collection company which I did. When I received my XXXX  XXXX report I noticed quite a bit of misinformation so I immediately contacted them and they recommended I place a security freeze on my data so that nobody could access it on XX/XX/XXXX. They said this data freeze would prevent anyone from getting my information if they requested it. I then started reviewing my credit reports from XXXX XXXX, Equifax and XXXX and although no new accounts that I did not authorize were being reported, I did see that several of my accounts were not reporting correctly, were incomplete, and reporting completely different on all three bureaus. I sent dispute letters to the three Credit Reporting Agencies to get this information corrected but quickly realized that they were reluctant to assist me, and either did not respond to my requests or they just sent me a letter saying they verified everything without telling me how they verified when it was obviously wrong. Through this process I also noticed that I had a bankruptcy reporting on my credit report that was also not reporting accurately. So, on XX/XX/XXXX I notified the three credit reporting agencies and as before, I just got a canned response from them stating that they verified the information through XXXX XXXX. 

On, XX/XX/XXXX I again contacted the three credit reporting agencies to dispute the misinformation and ask them to correct, complete and verify the information as I know understood that these were my rights protected by law and yet again, they sent me the same canned responses that they verified the Bankruptcy information through XXXX XXXX. So, I decided to contact XXXX XXXX and ask them why they are verifying inaccurate information to the three credit reporting agencies. I was finally able to get someone on the pone and they proceeded to tell me that it was impossible for anyone to verify anything because I had placed a security freeze on my report. I asked them specifically how would the credit reporting agencies be getting the information and the person told me they did not know, but they are not getting the information from XXXX XXXX and even if they tried they could not get the information because again, I had a full security freeze on all of my data. Well, I wanted to know why the credit reporting agencies lied to me and I contacted all three again, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and Equifax on XX/XX/XXXX telling them that I contacted XXXX XXXX and was informed that the security freeze prevented them from verifying the information they were reporting and again ask them where they were getting this misinformation they were reporting and I asked for documented proof of what they were reporting. Again, all three credit reporting agencies either did not respond or sent me the same canned response stating that they verified it through XXXX XXXX. So, that made it pretty obvious that the credit reporting agencies were not doing an investigation or verifying any of the information they are reporting. They juts send out canned responses with the exact same verbiage every time. I then decided to contact XXXX XXXX again and they said to me again, it would be impossible for the credit reporting agencies to get any information or verify anything because all of my data had a full security freeze. I even went as far as to contact the Federal Courthouse to see if they reported bankruptcy information to the credit bureaus and got a prompt reply stating that the Federal Courts do not share any information with the three credit reporting agencies. 

So, on XX/XX/XXXX I decided to send all three credit reporting agencies the Federal Courthouse letter and the confirmation from XXXX XXXX that my data had a security freeze and that they could not have verified the information through XXXX XXXX. I then demanded they show me documented proof of where they were getting the information and the documentation they were using to verify the misinformation. Once again they either didn't respond or if they did respond months later they just sent me the same canned response I previously received that they " verified the information through XXXX XXXX ''. It's my understanding that this is a violation of my rights protected my Federal Law and that the credit reporting agencies are required to only report information that is 100 % accurate and complete and that they have to verify it and explain how they verified it. This has never happened! All three credit reporting agencies just send the same letter over and over that says the exact same thing every time that they verified it through XXXX XXXX and that I should contact them. How is it that the credit reporting agencies are not held accountable to the Federal Law? How can they report misinformation and then when asked to correct, complete or verify it, they can just send a canned response letter over and over again. This inaccurate information is hurting my credit score which in turn is hurting my ability to remain financially secure. How is it that a for profit corporation is allowed to dictate my financial stability without having any repercussions for reporting misinformation that is hurting me and my family.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation