Consumer complaint received 2023-11-16
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc. (AZ)

I am filing this complaint against Experian. I am reluctant to file a complaint with CFPB because it is CFPB policy to only allow one complaint on one issue. This seems unfair to me because if I fail to include all information in the first complaint, I lose the right to amend my complaint. So, I am not complaining about any particular decision made by Experian. Rather, this complaint is about their unfair business practices which I call " hiding the football '' and " moving the goal posts '' and their clunky, non-helpful technology. 

Yesterday, I was trying to remove some former addresses from my credit file where I had never lived. In one case, Experian told me they could not remove the address because it was linked to an open credit account. Which one? I was told I had to call a different phone number to get that information. I called and the agent did not want to look it up. Finally, he did and said " Yes, it is linked to an open account. You can go to Experian.com and learn who the creditor is. '' I said, " Hang on, let 's test that. '' So I went to my credit report on Experian.com and the online credit report did not even list the false former address. The online credit report is not complete. I told the agent and he said he could mail me out a hard copy. I said, no, that will take XXXX weeks. Just tell me right now how to contact them so I can get this cleared up. He refused. I asked to talk to his supervisor. He said it would take XXXX minutes. He kept coming back saying it would another XXXX minutes. Finally, after about XXXX minutes he said that no supervisor was available but one would call me in XXXX hours. I hung up the phone in disbelief. I do not believe the agent even tried to get a supervisor. I called back to make a complaint about the agent who would not help me. When I told the next agent what happened, he gave me the information I needed but agreed that it is not Experian policy to tell consumers which creditor is tied to a disputed address. But this information was very helpful. I was able to send a letter to the creditor and believe this issue will be cleared up in time. This is Hide the Football. It's unfair and it's wrong. 

Another unfair business practice Experian uses is Move the Goal Posts. When I first phoned Experian to learn about disputing false former addresses, they told me I could enter my dispute online. So I did that. But the addresses were not removed. I called back and was told " Oh, to correct some of these you must mail in a letter and you must include a photocopy of your drivers license and your SSN. '' So I did that. Still, the false former addresses were not removed. I phoned back and was told " For these you must file an Identity Theft report with the FTC. '' So I did that. File report number is XXXX. Still, the false former addresses were not removed. I called Experian again and was told I would get an email giving me directions. An email arrived with a dizzying array of hoops to jump through. This constant moving of the goal posts is unfair. As I learned later, in one case a former address was linked to an open account on my credit file ( described above ). Experian should have researched the former addresses the first time I was on the phone with them and told me which addresses were linked to an open account and how to contact the creditor to clear up that issue. Experian 's business plan seems to be to keep false information on the books for as long as possible. 

Now, on to Experian 's clunky, non-helpful website. When a consumer is trying to clean up their credit report after an identity theft, Experian should make it easy for them. The online credit report should be complete. I should be able to XXXX my credit report and print it at my home rather than wait XXXX weeks for them to mail me a hard copy. Also, they originally asked me for the file number to my Identity Theft report. I gave them the report number. Later, they asked me to upload the report onto experian.com/upload. When I tried that, the website would never say " Upload Successful. '' It would just flash back to the blank form you see at the start. I had no idea if it uploaded or not. So I phoned Experian and told them about the issue, the agent said " You aren't trying to upload a color XXXX are you? '' I said " The instructions do not say I can only upload a black and white XXXX. '' He said " No, they don't but they tell us the system will only accept XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. '' There was very little XXXX on the Identity Theft Report, but I made it black and white and tried again. Again, there was no " Upload Successful '' message. I still do not know if Experian has received the upload they requested or if they even really need it. This clunky technology seems to be part of Experian 's business plan so consumer 's can not get false information removed.