Consumer complaint received 2022-02-09
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 a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
I have a utility account with XXXX XXXX. on my credit report that isn't mine. I have an account with this company that has been open and in good standing for over 20 years. The one on my credit report isn't this one. 

I've disputed the account. I received a letter from XXXX XXXX at XXXX explaining that she can't help unless I provide her with the account number. She provided no contact information in her letter. 

XXXX XXXX email address isnt on her XXXX account. Ive searched everywhere for an address for her. I've written XXXX XXXX seven times at five different email addresses trying to explain that I cant give her the account number because Experian wont give it to me for my protection. 

In my email to her, I explained that the XXXX credit reporting agencies all report different information about the account, but taking all of the info from all reports together into consideration, we see that the account was CLOSED and attached to my name in 2017. It was then OPENED the NEXT day. The day AFTER this, the final payment was made, but that payment was already delinquent. And in the one day between the time the account was opened and the time the final payment was made, so much electricity had been used on the account that a balance of {$400.00} remained AFTER the final payment was made. 

I have two living units on the XXXX account Ive had for 22 years. These two units, together, generally run up a bill of $ XXXX. I have no idea how anyone could even begin to run up a bill in one day that would leave {$400.00} due AFTER a payment was made. Or how an account is opened the day after it is closed. Or why it was in my name before it was even opened. And I cant get any answers to any of these questions. 

When I added a copy of the letter I got from XXXX to my Experian dispute, I got a response in about an hour outside of both XXXX  and Experians business hours that XXXX had recertified the debt. This is the {$400.00} debt XXXX wrote me a letter about, saying, basically, What account? This is the debt Ive been emailing XXXX about for a month ( without a response ), trying to explain I cant provide them an account number because Experian is protecting me. Yet, somehow, while both Experians and XXXX  offices were closed, Experian was able to contact XXXX, pass along the information Ive been trying to get to them, receive a response from XXXX, in which they recertified the debt, and then notify me that nothing on my credit report will change concerning the account without an account number that was closed in my name the day before it was opened five years ago. 

And, again, all of this communication took place while both companys offices were closed. 

I dont feel my dispute is being taken seriously.

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