Consumer complaint received 2024-01-08
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (NJ)

NOTICE TO OPT OUT OF REPORTING, DISCLOSING AND SHARING OF LOAN ACCOUNT LISTED BELOW TO THIRD PARTY NONAFFILIATED THIRD PARTIES ( XXXX, EQUIFAX, XXXX XXXX XXXX. ) To : XXXX, XXXX, Equifax, XXXX XXXX al. 
From : XXXX XXXX Date : XX/XX/XXXX RE : Notice to Opt Out as per 15 USC 6801- 6805 ; 16 CFR 313.7 ; Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ( FERPA ) and the Privacy Act of 1974 5 USC 552a I am now submitting a Notice to Opt Out to inform Aidvantage and nonaffiliated third parties such as XXXX, XXXX XXXX Equifax et al, that I am now and forever exercising my rights as a federally protected consumer to opt out of having my private financial information i.e. XXXX loan account ending in XXXX disclosed, reported and shared. 
Under FERPA, my rights to privacy as a student were and are being violated. My educational records were not supposed to be shared with third party credit reporting agencies. I was entitled to receive an annual notification of my rights under FERPA but I never did. 
Any consent whether verbal, non-verbal, written that XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, Equifax et al assumed existed never existed. In addition, as a consumer, my rights were intentionally violated by XXXX and the nonaffiliated third parties ( XXXX, et al ) as I was never provided with any conspicuous notice whether in electronic or paper format informing me of the right to opt out of any disclosures. 
I reiterate that this is not the first time, I have exercised my rights by requesting that XXXX and the nonaffiliate third parties cease and desist from reporting my non-public personal information. Therefore, by law XXXX loan account ending in XXXX must be immediately removed from the files of the nonaffiliated third parties XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX Equifax et al within 48 business hours. In addition, this correspondence and the prior correspondence will be entered into Court as evidence and used as a basis to seek enforcement, remedy and compensation for damages as I have repeatedly requested that my privacy not be violated by reporting, sharing and disclosing my confidential financial information without my written consent. 
This notice is also being filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because as 15 USC 6805 provides : Subject to subtitle B of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 [ 12 U.S.C. 5511 et seq. ], this subchapter and the regulations prescribed thereunder shall be enforced by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

According to 15 USC 6801 ( a ), a financial institution such as XXXX has the continuing obligation to respect the privacy of its consumers and to protect the security and confidentiality of those consumers nonpublic personal information. This clearly did not happen in my case as XXXX without my knowledge and consent shared, reported and disclosed my confidential account numbers to various non-affiliates including but not limited to XXXX, XXXX XXXX, Equifax et al. 
According to 15 USC 6802 ( a ) Notice Requirements : a financial institution may not disclose a consumers nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated third party unless notice is given. In ( 1 ) ( A ) ( B ) ( C ) : the financial institution may not disclose nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated third party unless the financial institution clearly and conspicuously discloses to the consumer in writing or in electronic form that the consumer has the right to exercise the nondisclosure option. XXXX never provided any notice explaining that I have the right to opt out but as the law provides me with this option I am exercising it anyway. 
The law in 15 USC 6803 clearly states that I have the right to be notified of my right to opt out at the start of the relationship with the financial institution and not less than annually. XXXX never complied with this. 
According to 16 CFR 313.7 ( a ) Form of opt out notice to consumers ; opt out methods. 1 ) Form of opt out notice. If you are required to provide an opt out notice under 313.10 ( a ), you must provide a clear and conspicuous notice to each of your consumers that accurately explains the right to opt out under that section. The notice must state : ( i ) That you disclose or reserve the right to disclose nonpublic personal information about your consumer to a nonaffiliated third party ; ( ii ) That the consumer has the right to opt out of that disclosure; and ( iii ) A reasonable means by which the consumer may exercise the opt out right. Furthermore 16 313.7 ( e ) under Time to comply with opt out states You must comply with a consumer 's opt out direction as soon as reasonably practicable after you receive it and ( f ) Continuing right to opt out. A consumer may exercise the right to opt out at any time. 
By not complying with the requirement to provide notices of disclosure and the right to opt out, XXXX has engaged in Unfair and Deceptive Practices. Aidvantage is thus obligated to comply with my notice to opt out by immediately ( within 48 hours ) removing the loan account ending in XXXX from the files of the nonaffiliated third-party agencies XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX Equifax et XXXX al. XXXX, and these nonaffiliated third parties are civilly liable for conspiring to violate my rights by not informing me of my rights to opt out.