Consumer complaint received 2022-06-30
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:
Dear CFPB In relation to ID XXXX regarding the company response ( Equifax ) XXXX CFPB proposed a question as to what would be a fair resolution to this issue? My response, A fair resolution to this issue would be to request that XXXX and Equifax please " remove '' the negative collection agency ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), from my credit reporting profile so that my FICO score can return to its original state due to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, being paid in full. 

Please note that my reply to this company ( Equifax ), a response regarding the CFPB ID : XXXX, should not be marked nor identified as a duplicate complaint. Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) rules in the law, Equifax must act by complying with my full original request for a fair resolution : " remove '' the negative collection agency ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), from my credit reporting profile so that my FICO score can return to its original state. However, Equifax continues to ignore my request, and respond with the following : A summary of the results are listed below : Collection : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX THIS CREDITOR IS CURRENTLY REPORTING A XXXX BALANCE FOR THIS ACCOUNT. 

For Equifax to merely reflect that the collection is now XXXX  balance on my credit report profile, is not acceptable. XXXX and XXXX, who are also credit reporting agencies, have complied with my request to remove the collections from my credit profile and returned my FICO credit score back to its original state. The third-party collection agency ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX reported an erroneous and fraudulent debt transaction from XXXX ( XXXX ), on my credit report profiles without my knowledge or contact me by mail, email, or telephone, to inform and notify me of the debt, nor allowed me an opportunity to dispute and respond to the debt, prior to placing the debt on my credit report. These actions are VIOLATION of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) law. At this time, the debt collector, ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), has violated the FDCPA rules in the law ; therefore, my request to Equifax is that the collection is REMOVED from my credit reporting profile and that my FICO credit score RETURN to its original state ; not to merely reflect that the collections show a XXXX balance. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) allows for legal action against certain collectors that dont comply with the rules of the law. Due to the collection from the third-party collection agency ( XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NOT complying with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) rules in the law, Equifax can no longer ignore the law and my full request. Equifax MUST comply with the FDCPA XXXX and REMOVE the negative, erroneous, and fraudulent collection agency XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), FROM my credit report profile IMMEDIATELY, and RETURN my credit score back to its ORIGINAL state ; or it will leave me with no other choice but to proceed with an FDCPA lawsuit against Equifax, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX  XXXX. An FDCPA lawsuit can be costly to defend and may result in a judgment against Equifax, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX  Therefore, this is my final plea and request to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ), to submit my reply requesting Equifax to comply with my original full fair resolution request. In addition, on XX/XX/XXXX, I have submitted the following complaint/letter to the Federal Trade Commission XXXX FTC ) and the Texas Attorney Generals Office : TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Per my most recent recorded telephone conversation held with a member of management ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX of the third-party collector, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX located at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX NY ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, NY XXXX XXXX, Telephone Number : ( XXXX ) XXXX, or ( XXXX ) XXXX, Website : XXXX Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX p.m. XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, stated that their office does not have a telephone number or email address on file for me, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, as XXXXhe Debtor ( consumer ). However, per their " company '' ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), response on XX/XX/XXXX, to the Debtors filed complaint with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ), case ID XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, their Company stated the following : XXXX  wrote to and called the consumer to advise him of the account. Prior to our receipt of the within complaint, XXXX had already ceased collection efforts. 
I informed the third-party collector, Member of Management ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, during our recorded telephone conversation that I never received a mailed notification from XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX nor a phone call per their response to CFPB. In responding to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 's response, I called and spoke to a CFPB representative by the name of XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and provided written feedback to the company response, stating the following : Dear Consumer, Financial Protection Bureau, in relation to ID XXXX regarding XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I have spoken to a CFPB Representative by the name of XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, who informed me that the case ID XXXX had been " closed '' after the company response, which did not allow me an opportunity to comment ( reply ) to the " company '' response. Therefore, to confirm that my reply will be reviewed and submitted to the company XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), I am submitting another complaint requesting that case ID XXXX be reopened. In order to assist CFPB to better work with consumer complaints together, we can eventually stop dishonest third-party collection agencies such as XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from automatically placing negative information on a consumers credit profile, without notifying the consumer and allowing the proper amount of time for the consumer to respond, I am providing additional feedback to the companys ( XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX response to assist in stopping and not continue these malicious acts. XXXX is unable to provide any documentation that, XXXX, wrote to and called, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, ( the consumer ), to advise me of the account reported to them on XX/XX/XXXX, by XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) for collection. I, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, ( the consumer ), did not know that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ), had placed the erroneous and negative information on my credit profile until AFTER notification was received from XXXX. The Law protects our rights as consumers regarding Credit Collections and Reporting. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) allows for legal action against certain collectors, such as XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, that dont comply with the rules in the law. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, did not comply with the FDCPA rules in the law. Therefore, I am requesting that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, provide a documentation log of their attempts to contact me, the consumer, in writing and by telephone, advising XXXX XXXX, XXXX, ( the consumer ), of the account, reported to XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX, by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for collection. In addition, I am requesting that XXXX provide transparent clarification of any credit reporting XXXX provided on behalf of the creditor, as being deleted accordingly, and that the deletion has been confirmed with whom? Who has XXXX confirmed the deletion with? 
Per my most recent recorded telephone conversation held with a member of management ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, of the third-party XXXX, XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX p.m. XXXX, XXXX XXXX stated that XXXX  could not fulfill Equifax request to submit a Deletion Request so that Equifax could perform the same as XXXX by removing the erroneous XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX collection from my credit report. XXXX XXXX, management with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, informed that their office received the misrepresentation of the facts file from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, and the third-party XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX reported it to the credit reporting agencies ( XXXX, XXXX, and Equifax ) XXXX roughly around XX/XX/XXXX. UNACCEPTABLE! XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 's communication tactics timeline does not comply with the rules in the law of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ). I asked XXXX XXXX when did their office send me a notification informing me that the debt had been received at their office for collections? XXXX XXXX response was, XX/XX/XXXX ( the same day as their receipt of the account ). I find XXXX XXXX timeline response also hard to believe. I then asked XXXX XXXX what address did they mail the notification to? His response was, to my present residence. I personally knew that the third-party collectors, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX not have my present resident address on file until I called their office, on XX/XX/XXXX, and paid off the debt once I was notified by XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, that the collection had been placed on my credit report. I then called and provided the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Representative, XXXX XXXX XXXX with my current residential address information so that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX could mail me a confirmation that the debt has been paid in full in the amount of {$100.00}. Considering I was informed of inaccurate information from XXXX XXXX, I called back and requested to speak to a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX member of management, XXXX XXXX XXXX, who clarified that it could take 30-90 days for the paid in full payment to reflect on the account and for me to communicate with XXXX regarding the removal of the collection from my credit report profile. However, XXXX was able to remove the negative erroneous collection from my credit report profile immediately. I did not find out that the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX collection was also reported to the two other credit reporting agencies ( XXXX, and Equifax ), until Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, and immediately reached out to the additional credit reporting agencies to start the dispute process to provide proof of payment and requesting that the negative and erroneous collections be removed from my credit report profile ( as XXXX had done ), but to no avail. The actions of the creditor, XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ), and the credit reporting agencies, ( XXXX, and Equifax ), are unlawful and the misrepresentation of facts to the third-party collection agency ( XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX provided by XXXX Communications XXXX XXXX ), is a violation of the FDCPA rules in the law. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX written response to the CFPB is contradicting what their member of Management ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, provided during our recorded conversation, on XX/XX/XXXX. I was never notified by the third-party collection XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX informing me that the debt had been turned over to a third-party collection, nor was the proper time provided to give me a chance to pay the debt or dispute the debt, given the timeline provided by the member of management with the third-party collection XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
The third-party collection agency XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX was unable to provide transparency to the consumer and to the CFPB, with a documentation log of their attempts to contact the consumer regarding the debt and provided the consumer with the required time per the FDCPA rules of law to respond to the notice prior to reporting the erroneous debt to the credit reporting agencies ( XXXX, XXXX, and Equifax ) XXXX Therefore, due to the negligence of the third-party collection agency, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I am requesting that XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX communicate with the credit reporting agencies ( XXXX and Equifax ) to " remove '' the false statement and negative collection ( XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from my credit report profile BEFORE '' a seven ( 7 ) year period, so that my FICO score and credit report can restore to its original positive state. 
Your kind assistance to further investigate this matter and to provide additional knowledge and instructions for having XXXX and Equifax remove the negative paid in full third-party collections account ( XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from my credit report due to it is hurting my FICO credit score and causing emotional distress. I am unable to provide for my family because every business venture and creditor review what is reported to the three major credit bureaus to determine one 's creditability ; therefore, your assistance will be greatly appreciated. In addition, I am contacting my state Attorney General 's office to receive guidance on a possible FDCPA lawsuit and for any possible state law actions against the debt collector ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). I would like to confirm with my State Attorney Generals office if they have received complaints from other consumers against the debt collector ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), and if it gets enough complaints against this one collector, it might prosecute ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), on behalf of the state of Texas. 
Collection Agencies must utilize judicious decision-making regarding what is reported to the credit reporting agencies ( XXXX, XXXX, and Equifax ) XXXX to confirm the accuracy and to complete a thorough due diligence process to properly notify the consumer and allow time for the consumer to respond to their notification prior to placing negative erroneous information to ones credit profile. I do hope I have provided enough detailed information to your staff to review this matter. It is important that we take the time and speak out when a wrong has been rendered so that no other consumer will experience such amiss. Thank you in advance for your kind assistance, and I look forward to our continuous communication. 

Best regards, XXXX XXXX, XXXX Email : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ) XXXX Enclosure

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation