Consumer complaint received 2023-12-19
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. (NY)

I recently discovered that Equifax has been furnishing nonpublic personal information about me without my consent. This is a direct violation of the FCRA which ensures that financial institutions follow procedures that protect consumer 's privacy. I notified Equifax about this numerous times in the last few weeks and instructed them to remove negative reports they had on my account. I recorded every call I made with them, in which they did not acknowledge my explicit statements to remove the late statuses shown on my report. Equifax is a private corporation that I have no contract with, I told them, however they willfully and knowingly kept those negative pieces of information on my report. This has been happening over and over and they refuse to comply. The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX issues regulations ensuring that financial institutions protect the privacy of consumers ' personal financial information, which never took place, seeing as how I was never contacted or asked permission to furnish any data about me. I was never asked one time by Equifax if they had my permission even after several calls with their agents and their superiors. They intentionally wrote statements on my behalf that I never made. For example, I would tell them that they are not a bureau of the US government but rather a private corporation and they had legal authority to publicize my financial information, to which they would then in turn write down that I said I " was never late on payments, '' which is not what I called them to say. None of that information is Equifax 's concern, however they profit directly from consumers ' information like myself by selling this data to other private corporations. This constitutes as identity theft since my personal and financial information was used without my permission for financial gain. They intentionally referred to themselves as a bureau, which they are not, which is false and misleading. They have obtained my information under false pretenses, since I never gave them written consent to take possession of my personal information, which is a criminal violation under Title 18 USC 1025, which carries a fine of up to {$5000.00} and a prison sentence of up to 5 years. I was calling them to exercise my nondisclosure option to which I am entitled to under 15 USC 6802, and they did not allow me to exercise this right that Congress has granted me. I explained to them that they have caused me great stress and XXXX, and they were extremely rude and not helpful to me on the phone, lying about their " policies '' and saying that they just make the report and can't change them. This is of course false, irrelevant and just a willful attempt at further violating the FCRA. Consumer reports are to not include and transactions regarding extensions of credit, and my social security was used in all of these reports so they have violated that law as well. They are required under the FCRA to follow procedures to ensure maximum accuracy in their reports yet they never reached out to me one time to validate any of the information they furnished about me, a violation of 15 USC 1681e. Under 15 USC 6803 financial institutions are to clearly and conspicuously inform consumers either electronically or through written form about their policies that ensure protection of consumers personal information, which never took place and I never received. Each of the violations under the FCRA carries a fine of {$1000.00} and Equifax has committed several of these, which do not include the mental strain and time lost that this has caused me. These are the reasons I am filing my complaint, after several attempts of letting Equifax decide if they would like to comply with any laws at all. They have also misreported my accounts on multiple occasions, and I have proof of that. Meaning that for over 6 years now, their reports on me have not only been unauthorized but inaccurate as well. They had the incorrect dates for my accounts opening which means they never even checked it in the first place. When I contacted Equifax they changed my account opening date from XX/XX/2015 to XX/XX/2015. This is clearly negligence on their part and is enough to carry a fine by itself. Also, they have yet to provide one original document proving or substantiating any negative information about me. Additionally, they submitted disputes that say that I claimed that I was never late, however I never said that, I actually said that exact opposite- that I am not disputing late status. I have the recording of that call where I am telling them exactly that, however they still submitted a dispute and writing in false information while being completely knowledgeable of the fact I said not to.