Consumer complaint received 2024-04-26
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes — 
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (MD)

I have an Equifax Lock & Alert account *as a result of and since Equifax 's breach*. And as a result of the plethora of breaches and identity theft, I keep my credit reports locked and only unlock them when I am applying for any type of credit. 

As of last XXXX  XXXX, whenever I try to unlock my Equifax report via the Lock & Alert website https : XXXX, I get an error message, " Please give us a call. We can not complete your request at this time. 
Please call the Customer Care team and mention error code XXXX. XXXX Customer Care is available between XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX '' forcing me to go through the brutal, infuriating process of calling Equifax Customer Service to get them to correct Equifax 's own `` internal error code 101 '' per the last person I spoke with in XX/XX/XXXX when I was as I am now attempting to obtain a home mortgage but can not because I can not unlock my Equifax Credit Report. 

At no time has Equifax made the process of their correcting their own internal error of not being able to utilize the Lock & Alert website to unlock & lock my credit report an easy process. Each call turns into an infuriating call requiring a Manager and I can assure CFPB Equifax CS reps do not make getting to a manager easy and in fact in XXXX, twice when I ask for a manager, I was hung up on requiring me to return the call and go through the entire infuriating process again. At one point in XXXX, one Equifax CS rep went so far as to say they could unlock my credit report permanently. And in light of the fact that all of my credit reports are supposed to be flagged for identity theft, yet Equifax doesn't have the flag, permanently unlocking my credit report is absolutely nonsensical. In XXXX, I advised the Manager that I spoke to that if Equifax did not resolve their own internal error of not being able to Lock & Unlock my reports as needed through the Lock & Alert website that I would file this complaint. And while Equifax did in fact correct *their internal error code* in XXXX, the ability to lock & unlock my credit report via the Lock & Alert website only worked for about 2-weeks.

Now, here again, 4-months later, and Equifax has yet to correct its own internal error delaying my ability to, AGAIN, to obtain mortgage approval because I do not have the ability to unlock my Equifax credit report as I am getting the same exact error message.

In light of the multitude of breaches including Equifax 's own breach, it is ridiculously absurd that Equifax can not and has not resolved its own internal computer glitches preventing consumers from being able to Lock & Unlock their credit reports forcing consumers to call their CS Reps who, in my experience, are trained to make getting them to correct their own error an infuriating and frustrating process.

Request CFPB to investigate accordingly. Request Equifax resolve their internal computer glitch preventing consumers from being able to utilize their Lock & Alert accounts to unlock & LOCK their reports as needed. Also request Equifax correct that they do not have an identify theft alert on my report as requested year after year after year. I do not have these issues with XXXX nor XXXX, and both have properly flagged my credit reports