Consumer complaint received 2022-09-12
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: VA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Information is missing that should be on the report

Complaint:
Experian is failing to correctly report my credit history and credit score since I legally changed my name several months ago. I sent them the documentation of my name change in XXXX, and rather than adding my new name to my 25 year credit history, they have created dueling records that seem to be overwriting each other every couple of weeks. Between the two records they actually have my entire credit history, but each one is missing different parts of it, such as former names and addresses or certain accounts. My credit score is fluctuating wildly for the past three months because of this, preventing me from taking out new credit that I should have easily qualified for. Literally one day I have a credit score of XXXX with Experian and the next day I have NO credit score, and my XXXX  score based on Experian 's reporting is XXXX. I am not having any of these problems with the other two credit bureaus, which are consistently scoring me around XXXX plus or minus XXXX points. I have called Experian FOUR TIMES over the past three months about fixing this, and they keep sending me " dispute resolution reports '' that look mostly fine, but then still reporting out my credit score this way. 

Contact history : XX/XX/22 : Received email with instructions for updating my name, which asked me fax or mail the documentation. I mailed in the documentation ( court order ) shortly thereafter. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification that my name was updated. Logged into free Experian account on their website and realized about half of my accounts were missing ; reported problem as a dispute using online form. Received an email saying " dispute results now ready '' the same day, and logging in to see the results that way ( different website from the free account ), it seemed like my entire credit history was present and correct. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification that my credit score had decreased. Checked online account and missing accounts issue had not been resolved. 
XX/XX/22 : Tried contacting Experian about this problem via email. They responded with a phone number that didn't give access to any live agents, so I asked by email for a different number. I got through on the second phone number after about an hour wait, and got a case number assigned of XXXX. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification that my credit score had increased. Logged in to find most of my history restored, but two current accounts were missing. Used online dispute process to request restoration of these two accounts, and included statements showing them active. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification that there was an update on my latest dispute. I logged in to find the missing accounts restored, but the report was under my old name. I called customer service again and got the case number XXXX. I was told the issue should be resolved in 3-5 days. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notifications about resolving disputes, which did not show any changes from what was appearing previously, i.e. nothing had been fixed. 
XX/XX/22 : Because I had not received any further updates from Experian and I wanted to apply for a credit line increase for a major purchase that was due in about ten days, I called Experian again for an update. They wanted me to send in all kinds of additional documentation via their secure upload site, which I tried to do but the site is very picky about the file type being XXXX and white only and I had a hard time submitting screen prints of their own websites. I got yet another case number of XXXX. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification saying that I " no longer have a FICO score '' but when I logged into the free account a few days later it did have a score. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification that my dispute results were ready. Checked disputes website and everything appeared correct except all of my previous names and addresses were omitted from the report. The free account website meanwhile continued to report no credit history and no credit score, so I wasn't sure which one was being reported out to other parties. 
XX/XX/22 : I was running out of time to apply for additional credit for my major purchase so I gave up and put it on an existing credit card with a 7.49 % interest rate. 
XX/XX/22 : Needed to make another major purchase for which I could have obtained 0 % financing for 2-3 years but it required a credit check, which I couldn't risk doing given the state of my file, so I had to put this purchase on the 7.49 % interest rate card as well. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification from XXXX XXXX  ( which reports XXXX score based on Experian ) that my credit score had changed. I logged in to find it had dropped XXXX points in the past month, to XXXX. 
XX/XX/22 : I called the phone number provided in the XXXX email about the problem with the XXXX score. The customer service person I spoke with said he was connecting me through to Experian 's department for " mixed files. '' This person told me the issue would be resolved in XXXX business days. At the same time, I logged into the Experian free personal account and it was reporting a credit score now of XXXX. 
XX/XX/22 : Received a dispute resolution email from Experian, which continues to report my full credit history but without my prior names or addresses. 
XX/XX/22 : Received email notification that I have no FICO score again. Logged into free Experian account to find my entire credit history missing again.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation