Consumer complaint received 2021-07-22
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CO
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Personal information incorrect

Complaint:
At the beginning of XXXX, my husband and I received two post cards from Equifax informing us to call XXXX or visit www.equifax.com/fcra and select the option for FREE State Credit File to obtain our Colorado credit file at no charge when a consumer reporting agency has received 8 credit inquiries pertaining to the consumer which also adds negative information to a consumer 's file. 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I called Equifax at XXXX and spoke with XXXX to get a copy of our state credit files, put a fraud alert on our accounts, and update my email address which had been compromised. XXXX stated he was able to help with all concerns and sold me on Equifax 's credit monitoring service for $ XXXXmonth. I updated my email address and confirmed receipt to new email, provided payment information to get the transaction completed for monitoring service, requested credit file, and confirmed there were no other account ( s ) /profile ( s ) using my information with XXXX . After handling my account, XXXX stated he was unable to process any requests/updates for my husband since my husband wasn't able to get on the phone at the time. 

A couple of months later, I noticed Equifax notifications and alerts were still going to my old, compromised email address/account that I updated with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I called Equifax at XXXX and first spoke with XXXX . He immediately needed to verify if I was XXXX XXXX XXXX ; I replied asking when and where he/Equifax got that information since this was the first time anyone has ever inferred or asked me that. XXXX said it was reported by one of my creditors or lenders but was unable to help further ; he would transfer me to someone that could. Shortly after, XXXX came on the line ; much like XXXX, XXXX was unable to tell which creditor/lender reported that information but was able to say the birth year reported was XXXX with my correct birth month and day. XXXX also had to transfer my call further to the XXXXlobal Consumer Care Department but would inform the next agent of the issue. 

XXXX answered the call after I waited on hold for a while and immediately asked for my SSN # ; confused that the call was supposed to be warm transferred from previous agent XXXX, I questioned why XXXX needed the information. XXXX said it was a cold transferred call then asked if I was going to give him the information or not. The entire call didn't feel right - I had enough for one afternoon and declined to provide more identifying information. I thanked XXXX for his time and ended the call. 

I was going to send a certified letter to Equifax ; however, if the interactions with their agents and paid subscriptions to their monitoring service were any indication of how my written correspondence would be handled on its own - the lesson gleaned from Equifax is to ask and complain at the same time to the highest consumer protection authority in the nation, on the largest consumer-financial platform.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation