Consumer complaint received 2025-05-11 00:00:00
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.
State: MO

Complaint narrative:
To Whom It May Concern : I am filing this formal complaint against the national credit reporting agenciesTransUnion, Equifax, and Experianfor ongoing violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ), Metro 2 compliance guidelines, IRS charge-off reporting requirements, and failure to comply with FCRA Section 605B identity theft provisions. These violations have significantly damaged my creditworthiness and caused undue financial and emotional harm. 

Despite multiple disputes and evidence I have submitted, these agencies continue to report inaccurate, unverifiable, and fraudulent information, including a bankruptcy, charge-off accounts, and late payments that do not meet legal requirements for reporting. 

Specific Violations Include : 1. Unverifiable Bankruptcy Reporting : The credit bureaus are reporting a bankruptcy that was allegedly verified through XXXX, a third-party public records aggregator. However, the attached letter from XXXX clearly states that they were unable to locate or verify any such bankruptcy record matching my information. Furthermore, I received a formal letter from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX confirming that they do not report consumer data to any credit reporting agencies or third parties. This means there is no legal furnisher of the bankruptcy data, making the continued reporting a clear violation of : XXXX U.S.C. XXXX ( b ) Duty to report only accurate information. 
XXXX XXXX. XXXX ( a ) ( XXXX ) ( A ) Requirement to delete unverifiable data. 
XXXX XXXX TransUnion XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) CRAs must go beyond parroting unverifiable third-party data. 
2. Charge-Offs and Late Payments Without Validation : These bureaus continue to report charge-offs and late payments without : Signed consumer agreements, IRS Form 1099-C, as required under IRS Publication 525, or Direct validation from the original creditor. 

In fact, the original creditor has confirmed they were unable to locate an account matching the information I provided, as it had been sold to a third-party collection agency. Therefore, the account could not be validated and should have been deleted under the FCRA and Metro 2 guidelines.

3. Failure to Comply with Identity Theft Protections ( FCRA 605B ) : I previously submitted a valid Identity Theft Report with supporting documentation, including an affidavit. Under FCRA 1681c-2, the bureaus are legally obligated to block all fraudulent accounts within four business days, yet they have continued to report these items, violating federal law. 
4. False Claims by CRAs That They Can not Delete Verified Data : All three CRAs have repeatedly claimed they can not delete data and are only allowed to mark it as disputed. This is factually and legally incorrect : Under 15 U.S.C. 1681i ( a ) ( 5 ) ( A ), if an item can not be verified, it must be promptly deleted. 
The FTC and CFPB have both issued guidance stating CRAs have a legal duty to delete unverifiable informationregardless of whether a data furnisher confirms it or not. 

Summary : The agencies failure to remove inaccurate dataespecially when XXXX, the alleged furnisher, denies verifying the informationis not only deceptive but a willful violation of consumer protection laws. These actions have impaired my ability to obtain credit and housing and have caused me extreme distress.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief