Consumer complaint received 2017-08-15
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: OR
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 XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for a loan through my credit union. They ran a credit report through Equifax and told me they could n't continue with the loan process until I dealt with a delinquent Judgment in the amount of {$3300.00} that came up in my name from XX/XX/XXXX. As I 've never been to court, I found this to be odd. I contacted the small claims office at the XXXX County Court and asked about the Judgment. They said there was a Judgment against someone who shares my first and last name, but informed me that it had been paid in XX/XX/XXXX and provided me a record. I asked if they could verify that the Judgment was mine with a social security number or any other personal identification information. The clerk told me no - they did n't have that information, but I should contact the debt collecting agency assigned to the case number and they could verify if it was mine. I called the agency ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and provided them my name, city of residence, and social security number. They informed me that there was a file that shares my first and last name in XXXX, Oregon, but that the social security number did n't match - meaning it was n't mine. Knowing all this information, I began to inform my credit union and the credit bureau. I explained the situation and was able to clear it with my credit union. Equifax provided a printout to me stating they " obtain public records from local, state and federal courts through a third party vendor, XXXX '' and provided one phone number to contact. I filed a dispute atXX/XX/XXXX through the Equifax website and again with the call center and provided them with the public record showing that the Judgment had been paid and attempted to speak with someone at XXXX through the number provided. They told me that the dispute process could take up to 30 days and to expect the results of the investigation by mail. I waited and received the results at XX/XX/XXXX. The packet sent, which was a credit report summary, contained 13 different errors - one of which was that the Judgment remained in my file ( now paid, but still there ). The cover letter said, " We have verified that our Judgment and Liens records are accurate based upon your dispute related to Filing Number XXXX, after contacting the XXXX Circuit Court-XXXX. '' Except that their records were not accurate, as the Judgment was n't delinquent and had been paid, yet there was no mention of any update on this. I know the court does n't have any information that would verify the Judgment is mine ( as I mentioned earlier ) and could not have verified this. The cover letter also provided an email address and phone number to call with any further questions. I called the call center on XX/XX/XXXX and filed a second dispute to include corrections on the other 12 errors, but was told I would have to wait for the dispute process to conclude ( possibly taking another 30 days ). I said that was unacceptable, as the initial dispute was not satisfied. Why should I need to dispute a dispute and why should I trust that the results would be any different - they 've already made this mistake TWICE and when I inquired why they were n't using any personal information to verify the Judgment, they call center had no answers. I asked to speak to a manager. I have spoken to two within the last week ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ). Each tell me there is no one they can communicate with outside of filing a dispute and they ca n't connect me to anyone involved in the investigative/dispute process despite the fact that their process is n't appropriately verifying the Judgment using any personal identifying information. I informed each of the managers that contacting the court is not an appropriate way to verify that the judgment is mine and to stop. I provided them with 2 different debt collecting agencies, who are each, after providing a social security number, able to verify that the Judgment is n't mine. The debt collecting agency name and contact are attached and easily viewable in the information corresponding to the judgment both on the court documents and summary provided by XXXX. The managers were unwilling to make the call themselves and could only add the instructions to my dispute case. I have sent 6 different emails to the only email provided explaining that the court does n't have the ability to verify the Judgment is mine and include instructions on how to appropriately verify the Judgment - none have been responded to. Neither manager was able to connect me to anyone in the email department. It has now been over 40 days since my initial dispute and I have had to spend numerous hours making numerous phone calls investigating this on my own and have had to instruct the credit bureau, XXXX, on how to correctly verify the Judgment only to be told there 's nothing they can do but let a reinvestigation of an investigation conclude. The only 2 numbers and email contact provided can not answer any of my questions or provide any meaningful assistance and can not provide any other means of contact. This is unacceptable. In the meantime I 've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, filed a complaint with Equifax, who inform me that they have no record of a Judgment in my name and are unable to explain why XXXX does. Managers for XXXX have since stopped returning my calls.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation