Consumer complaint received 2015-06-04
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit reporting company's investigation
Sub-issue: No notice of investigation status/result

Complaint:
On XXXX/XXXX/2015 at XXXX XXXX, I called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after I received an email from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding a complaint that I filed against a creditor that has listed a collection account on my Equifax Credit Report which is Case Number XXXX. I spoke with a representative by the name of XXXX who asked me questions about the company that listed the negative information on my account. I explained to her that Equifax sent me a copy of my credit report with a collection agency by the name of " XXXX XXXX and XXXX '' that has reported a negative item on my credit file. I mailed the company a letter requesting them to validate thier claim in pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act in which the company did not respond to my request. I filed a dispute with Equifax regarding the account on my report and told them that the creditor did not validate this account as I requested per law. Equifax responded to my dispute saying that they verified the account as accurate and they were not able to remove information that they verified. I got on Equifax website to check the status of my other disputes and noticed another collection account listed on my file with a creditor by the name of " XXXX '' that had the same contact information as XXXX XXXX as well as the same account information as the credit report that I received in the mail from Equifax ; I mailed this company a letter to the contact information listed online when I requested an investigation and did not receive a response either. The CFPB named XXXX who I spoke with informed me that they were unable to find any license about these creditors and was not able to contact them by the information listed on my credit report. She advised me to file a complaint ; I told her that I filed a complaints under both of the names of these companies even though they are reporting the same account. XXXX then advised me to file a complaint against XXXX and explain the situation as well as the fact that they are continuously stating that they completed thier investigation and that these accounts are being accurately reported. On XXXX/XXXX/2015 at XXXX, I called the CFPB and spoke with a representative named XXXX who had questions regarding the contact information listed about these companies, the number listed for these companies are invalid. Federal law states that these companies have to validate these claims with competent information whenever they are asked to validate a claim. Neither I nor the CFPB were able to contact these companies, so I would like to know how these claims were validated to Equifax. Equifax also sent me a letter stating that they receive all their results electronically as far as their investigation is concerned when I requested them to provide me proof with the evidence they received from their investigation ; in other words they were not going to provide me with any evidence that they conducted a fair and unbiased investigation. On XXXX/XXXX/2015 at around XXXX, I tried to go on XXXX website to check the status of my disputes and to submit another dispute as the CFPB representative advised me to and not I am unable to submit any disputes online ; Equifax is requesting that I fax them documents to verify my identity. I 've been submitting disputes online all before without having to fax them documentation. In my disputes, I explained to equifax that I never received validation from the company nor the right to dispute which is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Act ; they still refuse to remove the unvalidated account ( s ) from my record. I have several complaints with Equifax filed with the CFPB regarding my credit report and their biased investigations.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation