Consumer complaint received 2020-04-20
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: LA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Experian account to temporarily lift the freeze off my credit file. I submitted all of my personal information along with the temporary pin that was assigned to me in order to lift the freeze off my credit file. I received an alert stating I need to send in requested documents, such as drivers license, state ID, etc., one copy of a utility bill, bank or Insurance statement, etc., and a copy of your social security card or another document that displays my social security number in order to verify my identity. The request also states the documents should display your name and current mailing address, and the dates of issue. These statements must be recent. Once the documents have been received they will validate my identity and remove the security freeze for the time frame I requested. 

The problem that I have is first I'm an Identity Theft victim which is the main reason I have the freeze on my credit file. The second issue, I logged into my account to access my credit file and there was nothing showing in my account. As I selected every link on the Experian web page of my account, nothing happened. I noticed the Experian website requesting me to upgrade the account. In XXXX of XXXX, I signed up for the Experian account, it was offered to me for free because I was notified I was involved in a XXXX  data breach. And I selected to receive free credit monitoring at all three credit bureaus. Now Experian are requesting for me to pay for the account. 

I need to temporarily lift the freeze off my account immediately for business purposes. And there seems to be a problem with lifting the freeze or accessing my Experian account period. Once I have sent in the documents requested, How will I know if my credit has been lifted? This has caused a problem for me because I have sent in documents before to verify my identity and Experian claimed to not have received any documents from me as well as the freeze was never lifted off my credit file. 

On today, XX/XX/XXXX, I will send off the documents requested but one of my documents ( drivers license ) does not have my current address on it but it is valid, recent and not expired. I have lived at my current address for 11 months and It is not time for me to pay to update my drivers license, so it will not show the correct address on it. So will it get rejected because it doesn't have my current address on it? The utility bill that I have sent along with my drivers license does have my current address on it. This is a serious road block that needs to be addressed with Experian. There is too much of my personal information being asked to send into Experian, and this company is not U.S. based. I'm an Identity Theft Victim and exposing too much of my personal information is not a secure method of protecting my Identity from anyone.

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