Consumer complaint received 2024-05-01
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Personal information incorrect
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (MD)

This is a IV Part Complaint against Equifax which has been ongoing for years, and I fail to understand why the CFPB has not taken measures to ensure Equifax correctly and accurately reports information on consumers ' credit reports as well as Equifax 's failure to have the basic capability- as one of the 3 primary US credit reporting agencies- to properly manage consumers ' credit reports specific to its own breach and specifically for consumers who have suffered repeated acts of identity theft, in part, because of Equifax 's *own* breach. 

I. I have requested and have continue to request that all three credit bureaus add identity theft alerts on my credit reports with phone number for me to be called for any attempts to open any credit account. XXXX and XXXX have had and continue to add the identity theft statement on both of their reports, *Equifax does not*. In fact, Equifax has on my credit report a disputed account from, I believe, XXXX, specifically, " PLS CHANGE STATEMENT ON FILE TO " ACCOUNTS WITH XXXX XXXX AND CONTRACT CALLERS ARE FRAUD BOTH ARE CURRENTLY BEING DISPUTED WITH ALL 3 CREDIT BUREAUS CFPB AND FTC ''. 

And I can provide to the CFPB complaints I have filed previously, since XXXX, against Equifax where I specifically request that they add the identity theft alert to my credit report ( s ), and multiple times since the first, XXXX, XXXX breach. 

Equifax 's failure to add the requested identity theft statement violates FTC regulations, and I request AGAIN that they add the statement with the phone number I provided to all three credit bureaus for me to be called for *any* attempt to open *any* account. 

II. As a direct result of Equifax 's breach and the numerous accounts that were opened or attempted to be opened, I requested that all three credit bureaus remove my physical addresses from my credit reports and to only report my XXXX XXXX XXXX opened because of the Equifax breach, to prevent those attempting to open fraudulent accounts from having both my billing/mailing address and physical address. 

XXXX and XXXX have and continue to honor this request, *Equifax has not*. In fact, for the first time in nearly 6 years, my actual home address is now being reported on my Equifax credit report and has been since for nearly a year and thus explains why in the past several months multiple attempts have been made to open accounts using my actual home address. 

I request AGAIN that Equifax remove my physical home address from my credit report permanently as their actions, as a result of their own breach, and failure to flag my report for identity theft, is permitting accounts to be opened/attempted to be opened. 

III. Equifax has not, per FTC regulations, updated my credit report to accurately reflect balances or credit limits, and in monitoring my Equifax credit report over the past year, Equifax does not update consumers ' credit reports or at least hasn't mine regularly. I pay off all my credit cards at the end of each month. Over XXXX, XXXX XXXX, thus, XXXX ago, I missed the monthly statement cutoff 's, and while I still paid off all cards at the end of XXXX, the balance on two cards were reported with balances. EQUIFAX HAS yet to correct on my credit report that those cards have next to XXXX balances. In fact, Equifax has not, over the past year, even correctly reported the balances owed on my mortgage or car loan or for that matter any account. It is inconceivable that Equifax would be allowed to engage in practices that directly effects consumers ' credit scores by failing to update consumers ' credit reports on a monthly basis. 

Request Equifax update my credit report as required under FTC regulations to correctly reflect balances and credit limits, and not just once as a result of this complaint, but as required by FTC regulations. 

IV. On XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a complaint against Equifax for it's failure after XXXX to correct its own internal " error code XXXX '' that prevents me from being able to utilize my Lock & Alert account to unlock my credit reports when *I* am applying for credit. 

An update to that complaint. On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I again was subjected to the brutal infuriating process of having to contact Equifax Customer Service to request they correct their internal " error code XXXX '' so that I could apply for a mortgage. After repeating myself three times to the XXXX XXXX XXXX, I ask to speak to a manager. That manager 's name was XXXX. 

To those at the CFPB, XXXX made the following statements to me as the reason for why I can not use my Lock & Alert account and also his explanation for why it's been XXXX and Equifax has not fixed their own internal " error code XXXX ''. 

I am a XXXX ( leisure ) drive to the XXXX  State line , which is a one-party consent State, thus my call with XXXX and XXXX is XXXX. 

a. With regards to why it's been XXXX and Equifax has not corrected their own internal *error code XXXX XXXX said, " there is no time limit on when we escalate an issue for when our tech support is required to resolve an issue ''. 

This is Equifax 's response to their own internal technical issues preventing consumers from using the website established as a direct result of Equifax 's own data breach ; they'll get to it whenever they get to it and the interim, consumers are forced to deal with their CS who, in my experience, lack basic attention skills that even after repeating myself three times to the CS rep, XXXX, that the issue with my Lock & Alert account is an Equifax XXXX XXXX issue, he still did not comprehend what I explained to him causing me to request to speak to a Manager, XXXX. 

XXXX XXXX conjured up several reasons for why I can't use my Lock & Alert account. First, he claimed that it's because Equifax has on my credit report my birth-date as mm/dd/yyyy, but on my Lock & Alert account he claimed that Equifax has my birth-date as dd/mm/yyyy , and that he claimed was why I am getting the Equifax internal " error code XXXX ''. After I told XXXX that I am not the one who controls how Equifax is reflecting birth-dates in its internal systems and that I haven't made any changes to my Lock & Alert Account, XXXX changed the reason. He then claimed it was because " we have a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  as your mailing address '' ( which is odd considering my XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX isn't currently reflected on my Equifax report ) but I responded, yes, I had a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, just as I have a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ... because of Equifax 's breach to prevent accounts being opened. 

He then said he'd, '' have to escalate the issue ''. It is when I told him that the XXXX in XXXX ( XXXX ) said she was going to escalate the issue that the said " there is no time frame when escalated issues are resolved ''. 

It is inconceivable to me that this is how Equifax is handling one consumers ' credit reports and how that reflects how they are handling the millions of consumers ' credit reports whose credit/borrowing is directly effected by how Equifax ( XXXX and XXXX ) reports consumers ' accounts to creditors or potential creditors, thus consumers ' credit scores by not updating consumers ' balances and limits to have an accurately reported credit score.