Consumer complaint received 2020-01-11
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NC
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:
On Friday, XX/XX/20 during the morning hours, my wife called our bank XXXX XXXX XXXX  in an effort to secure an unsecured personal loan. The banker with whom my wife talked said that she did not see any reason she couldn't have the money ready for us by Monday, XX/XX/20 after she received the credit report from Equifax. A short time later the same banker called my wife at her place of employment and said that Equifax Credit Service had a freeze on our account history and no data could be accessed by the bank. The banker gave my wife a number to call Equifax to get the freeze lifted so that our loan could be processed. My wife called the number and she was told that they would need my information to have the freeze lifted. 
I first made contact with an Equifax Representative at approximately XXXX hours on XX/XX/20. This representative identified themself as XXXX. It was a female who I spoke with on this occasion. I told her what I was trying to do in getting a loan from our bank and that the banker had reported that Equifax had placed a freeze on my information. I asked that the freeze be lifted so that the loan could be processed. XXXX asked me why the freeze had been placed on my account and I told her that I had no idea, but that I wanted it removed. I gave XXXX my full name, address, social security number, and date of birth. She then began asking me about my mortgage on my home the amount outstanding on the loan and with whom we had our mortgage. I explained to her that my wife pays the bills and that I can not tell her anything about that. She then began to ask me about other credit card debt and what banks these cards were with and the balance and amount of my last payment. I explained to her that we have no credit cards that maintain any balance, that these cards are paid off each month and that we have no credit card debt. She then began to explain that I will be required to send Equifax various articles of identification, Birth Certificate, copies of driver 's license, pay stubs, etc so that they can establish that I am who I say that I am. She went on to say that this would take some 7-10 business days from when I faxed these articles to Equifax. I explained that I needed for the bank to be able to get the credit report right away that I needed to get my loan by the first part of next week. I asked to speak with her supervisor. Another lady eventually answered and said her name was XXXX. I explained the situation to her. XXXX said that she could not help me with getting the freeze removed any faster. She described to me that I could go onto MyEquifax.com and get the verification on my own. I went to that site and followed all the steps outlined on that site. The site indicated that my identity had been established. It also indicated that a freeze was on my account and told me what to do to have it removed. This did not work. When my wife got home from work I told her what I had learned and showed her the website for Equifax where I had established my identity. My wife then called the numbers that I had used earlier and tried to get some satisfaction and get the freeze removed from our account. She got the same story about sending in birth certificates, driver 's license, etc and that it would be some 7-10 business days before anything could be done about it. I again checked the MyEquifax.com where I again verified that my identity had been established, but I was still unable to unfreeze my account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation