Consumer complaint received 2023-10-12
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (MI)

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I filed CFPB complaint XXXX regarding Equifax handling of a false/misleading/inaccurate account/tradeline. It is/was XXXX of dozens I have filed regarding this account over the past two ( 2 ) years. Equifax responded to XXXX on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, once again claiming to have conducted a re-investigation and provided results for account/tradelines that contained information for additional accounts not disputed : " ADVERSE ACCOUNTS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PAID IN FULL WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DELETED XXXX YEARS FROM THE DATE OF FIRST DELINQUENCY. PAID AS AGREED ACCOUNTS THAT HAVE BEEN PAID IN FULL WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DELETED XXXX YEARS FROM THE REPORTED DATE. Trade : XXXX XXXX EQUIFAX VERIFIED THAT THIS ITEM BELONGS TO YOU. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE REGARDING THIS ITEM. THE FOLLOWING FIELDS HAVE BEEN MODIFIED : CLOSED DATE, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, ACCOUNT HISTORY Trade : XXXX XXXX EQUIFAX VERIFIED THAT THIS ITEM BELONGS TO YOU. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE REGARDING THIS ITEM. THE FOLLOWING FIELDS HAVE BEEN MODIFIED : SCHEDULED PAYMENT, CLOSED DATE, DATE OF LAST ACTIVITY/DATE OF FIRST DELINQUENCY, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT INFORMATION, ACCOUNT HISTORY NON REPORTING DISPUTES Trade : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ITEM IS NOT CURRENTLY REPORTING ON THE EQUIFAX CREDIT FILE. We hope this resolves your concerns and, if applicable, a copy of the dispute results has been mailed to you. If you have any additional questions, you may call XXXX ( XXXX ) or you may visit www.myequifax.com. With myEquifax, you can create an account to manage your security freeze, add or remove fraud alerts, and initiate credit file disputes. Additionally you can access free Equifax credit reports and other products. You may also obtain a free copy of your credit report on annualcreditreport.com. '' So, in response to XXXX, which was filed for a specific account/tradeline, Equifax allegedly conducted an XXXX for XXXX ( XXXX ) different XXXX XXXX accounts. The problem is, I've only had XXXX ( XXXX ). In fact Equifax claims the information for the account I filed the complaint for, the " disputed item, '' does not exist on my credit report. When XXXX furnishes information to the XXXX XXXX Agencies it does so using the actual account number, in this case XXXX. However, when it responds to customer inquiries regarding the account, it uses the last XXXX ( XXXX ) digits of the actual card number, here XXXX. While this XXXX seem confusing, there is no reason Equifax could not identify the account even with this discrepency, as the balance on the account has remained consistent across any and all documents I've supplied, which includes : XXXX own responses to the CFPB, XXXX third-party collections agent ( XXXX ) responses to the CFPB, XXXX XXXX XXXX after XX/XX/XXXX. That balance is {$3400.00}. Reasonable procedures under XXXX ( b ) are not proof of a reasonable re-investigation under 1681i ( b ). The re-investigation requirements under 1681i ( a ) mandates a more thorough investigation than 1681e ( b ) ( see. Chaitoff v. Experian Information Solutions , Inc., No. 21-2632 ( 7th Cir. 2023 ) ). While Equifax may not have been able to match the last five of the card number with the last four ( 4 ) digits of the account number, had Equifax conducted a reasonable re-investigation, they would have been able to match the documentation provided with the appropriate account/tradeline. In fact, they use this technique to verify individuals over the phone in Equifax Customer Service, whereby they will ask an individual to verify their identity by requesting a caller provide the name of the Data Furnisher, and the " balance '' as reported by the furnisher for a specific type of tradeline. Thus, Equifax has disregarded its responsibilities under 15 U.S. Code 1681 et. seq. and is allowing an account that was allegedly charged-off by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) years ago to be re-aged by XXXX such that the re-aging of account information has caused delinquencies to be reported by one-hundred eighty ( 180 ) for the past seven months -- this is after XXXX engaged in explicitly prohibited acts and practices over the past two ( 2 ) years, and then furnished the erroneous information in my consumer files. I have filed doezens of complaints regarding the reporting of this account over the past two ( 2 ) years, and demonstrated the multiple violations of Federal Law XXXX has engaged in. Equifax knows, or should know, XXXX has violated 15 U.S. Code 1681s2. By now there is no possible way Equifax can claim they do not know, or should not know, the account information is false/misleading/inaccurate, etc.. There is no way Equifax is unaware the information for this XXXX account constitutes an error under 15 U.S. Code 1681e, which regards errors as including factual information that is false/misleading/incomplete/inaccurate. Verifying information as technically accurate, does not imply the information as reported is not an error. Given the contradictions in XXXX written response to my state 's attorney general 's office with those it provided to the CFPB, the account/tradeline XXXX ( identified by card number XXXX in XXXX responses ) needs to be removed and XXXX needs to XXXX blocked from inserting additional information under a new and/or duplicate account/tradeline. At this point I have standing to sue Equifax under at least the FCRA to seek damages, for negligent and/or willful violations of the FCRA. I am allowed to seek recovery that includes actual damages, regardless of whether the statutory violation is negligent or willful. Specifically, I am allowed to seek recovery for financial losses suffered directly as a result of Equifax 's statutory violation ( s ). Moreover, I am allowed to seek recovery for other costs incurred, such as time lost correcting a false credit report. Emotional distress, loss of reputation are also compensable even in the absence of out-of-pocket expenses. ( See, e.g., Fischl v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 708 F.2d 143, 151 ( 5th Cir. 1983 ) ) ; ( Arriola v. Safeco, 15 F.3d 1082 ( 9th Cir. 1993 ) ). In total direct losses, indirect losses, and emotional damage are recoverable for even negligent violations of the FCRA. CFPB complaint XXXX is attached, as is the documents filed with that complaint.