Consumer complaint received 2017-05-05
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
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:
I have been a victim of extreme theft identity that has spanned over a 3 year period. Upon several denials for credit early last year, I pulled my credit and noticed a tremendous amount of accounts, inquiries, and discrepancies on my report from all   XXXX   credit bureaus. I then phone contacted each creditor and informed them that I had been a victim of identity theft and asked them to provide original documents showing my hand written or electronic signature signing for the debts/ accounts that were in dispute. I was told that my accounts had been sold to different collection agencies in which they could not or failed to provide accurate account numbers, names/addresses and telephone numbers for them leading to a dead end. After going around in circles, dead ends, and disconnected phone lines I then notified the  XXXX  credit bureaus where an investigation was done between   XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX . I received notification within 5 days that information was verified and accur ate with  XXXX  and  XXXX . Equifax on the other hand, took the time to properly investigate with creditors. In turn, most inquiries and accounts that were fraudulent were removed and fraud alert placed on report. I proceeded to send a second certified letter to all three credit bureaus  in  XX/XX/XXXX  after  further researching and gaining knowledge of the FCRA guidelines. At that time, I noticed that Equifax has reinserted  XXXX  accounts back on my account that was previously disputed and deleted twice without notifying me within 5 days of insertion. After speaking to them about this and their violation of the FCRA, they did not remove but stated that it had to be re-disputed for a third time? According to the FCRA section 611 this is in direct violation for not notifying me that it was reinserted and is suppose to be deleted permanently. After that, I sent in a police report and itemized verified/certified letter with each negative account and inquiry to each bureau and then proceeded to contact each bureau around   XX/XX/XXXX   after receipt of documents to make sure that they received the items and to comply. According to the FCRA, it states that if I am a victim of identity theft, I have the right to have any incorrect and fraudulent information removed and blocked so that it is not reported again on a consumers report. I stated this to each bureau and the response I got from each was that they have their own guidelines and they ca n't just remove the information and/or block it without doing a FOURTH investigation and contacting the creditors again. They also stated that they do not require the creditors to provide valid details such as original signatures, entire account numbers, etc in order for them to continue to report an account as accurate. This is also in direct violation of the FCRA due to the fact that creditors have to provide valid information such as signatures, dates open, accurate account numbers in order for it to be considered valid. Otherwise, it has to be deleted from report. None of this was provided to me by neither the creditors or credit bureaus. After speaking to a supervisor at   XXXX   name  XXXX  today I am also having an issue with them deleting the name ending in  XXXX  as well as multiple addresses on file that were all used in the identity theft cases to open accounts upon my several wishes to do so. I have also expressed an issue with me calling in on   XX/XX/XXXX   to file another dispute for the same accounts that went into an investigation. I was told that I could not file another dispute with   XXXX    for the same thing twice? That is beyond inaccurate. The representative proceeded to file a dispute anyway, but on the    XX/XX/XXXX   I   received my  XXXX  report date d  XX/XX/XXXX  that t he investigation was complete and all accounts had been verified as being accurate. How was it possible to file and be completed the same exact day I called in? I have   XXXX   accounts in dispute, and there is no way that information from all creditors were in fact reported back to bureau in less than a 24 hour period. I spoke to the supervisor about this and told her that I do not have faith that  XXXX  is properly conducting investigations because of this. She apologized and claimed she did not even see where I even called in on the   XX/XX/XXXX  t o initiate another dispute. Strange. After speaking with  XXXX  today about my police report and investigation process and the supervisor name   XXXX   XXXX   informed me that they received my report but that it was either invalid ( as if I stole a report and wrote it myself ) or it did not meet the criteria for  XXXX ?? I then proceeded to ask her what the criteria was and that she was the one I had spoken to previously that told me to get the police report. She told me that they mailed me a letter o n  XX/XX/XXXX  explaini ng that they could not use the police report but that they would add it to my file to send to creditors. I kept asking what criteria she was referring to so that I can know and be in compliance of what needed to be done and she told me that she could not disclose that to me. This whole process has become so frustrating and I feel like I am fighting with a bear and losing. I do n't know what else to do besides file a lawsuit against all  XXXX  bureaus as I have caught them in violation of the FCRA guidelines several times and they still will not comply. This strain on my credit and identity theft has caused a financial and emotional hardship for me and my family at least for the past 3 years when it was first identified that I had become a victim and I just want this nightmare to be over.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation