Consumer complaint received 2024-09-10
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Information belongs to someone else
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc. (NC)

I submitted a request to Experian to block information in my credit file caused by identity theft, pursuant to section 605B of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, on XX/XX/year>. Included in my request to block certain information from my credit file was the required Identity Theft Affidavit, including information about the account that I was requesting be blocked and three hard inquiries that were also not initiated or permitted by me as well. Also included in my request was proof that the Identity Theft Affidavit had been filed with a federal, state or local law enforcement agency. I filed this affidavit with the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC. ) Finally, I included a copy of my identification and a copy of the most recent utility bill at my current address after receiving correspondence from Experian requesting those additional documents. After receiving all required information indicated in Section 605B of the FCRA to all three major credit bureaus, XXXX and XXXX complied immediately and blocked the fraudulent information from my credit file within the 4 days allotted by the FCRA. Experian did not comply with the FCRA and denied my request to block this information, citing improper documents. I followed up with Experian to provide the identification and utility bill they asked for after their initial denial, only to shortly after receive another notice that Experian has denied my request to block this information as it was verified as accurate. Clearly, the other two major credit bureaus did their duty to comply with the FCRA within the time allotted and Experian is merely asking their clients to jump through additional hoops when trying to repair damage to their credit report that resulted from identity theft, as they do not value compliance with Section 605Bs timeframes and burden placed upon them to block this information upon receiving appropriate documents and a statement alleging identity theft, immediately within 4 days. Experian further seems to approach this process by ignoring the terms of the FCRA, attempting to verify the information in the credit file as accurate by reaching out to the creditor, as they would during a normal dispute, completely disregarding section 605B requiring a block request be granted within 4 days unless there is evidence that the block would be issued in error based on the information received only from the debtor. From my research, this was the purpose of legislating section 605B, to avoid unnecessary contact with the creditor to verify information specifically in the case of identity theft, as time is of the essence and a consumers credit file is facing significant damage that requires swift action to block the information pending a normal 30-day investigation if needed. In summary, Experian first denied my request to block based on lack of documentation and once I provided the documentation, refused once again to block simply because they verified it. This is completely out of compliance with this portion of the FCRA and is negligent. Experian did not take my ID Theft Block request seriously. XXXX and XXXX certainly did though. It almost appears that Experian did not do any due diligence required of them unlike the other two credit bureaus, who acted swiftly to protect my credit file. It appears as if Experian believes that they can just choose whether they want to comply with the law or even worse, ignore the duty they have to research the credit file and the FCRA to protect a consumers credit file because they cant be bothered to act in accordance with the law.