Consumer complaint received 2024-10-30 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Investigation took more than 30 days
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, my Experian account was hacked, and my log-in credentials, email and phone number were changed, preventing me from logging in. I immediately called Experian and it was nearly impossible to get a human on the phone. However after over an hour of making no progress with their automated system I eventually found a totally different phone number, actually manned by a person and was able to have them transfer me to the fraud department. When I eventually was able to speak to a person they weren't able to authenticate me because whoever hacked my account changed the personal information on my Experian account. However they eventually started to quiz me using information from within my credit report to verify my identity. This is concerning because whoever hacked my account also now had access to my credit report and could validate themselves as me in the exact same way. Nevertheless the Experian rep was satisfied and they said they would lock down my account to prevent further unauthorized access and that I would hear back from Experian in XXXX business days with instructions on how to proceed. They gave me a report # : XXXX. They recommended to pursue a resolution to essentially close my Experian account completely to prevent access to it by anyone. This seemed desirable to me because apparently it's trivial to gain access to people 's existing Experian accounts, especially once they have the information contained within them. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I finally got an email back from Experian Membership Support ( XXXX ) indicating that to prove my identity ( again! ) I would have to fax in a copy of my social security card, drivers license, and an insurance statement. I then I faxed in these documents to the provided number on XX/XX/XXXX. I sent a confirmation email to Experian that day in order to make sure they received these extremely sensitive documents. Rather than doing that they informed me " it can take 7-14 business days to process the documents once we receive them. '' With this ridiculous warning I proceeded to try my best to get updates out of Experian on a regular basis. I called multiple times, sometimes never reaching a human. One of the few times I did, on XX/XX/XXXX I spoke to a representative that told me new information. They told me that not only had Experian allowed a nonauthorized party access my Experian account ( and thus Experian credit report ) but they also allowed them to sign up for a checking account in my name. After being transferred a number of times trying to resolve this new issue I was eventually told that Experian cancelled this new checking account. However, since I do not have access to any sort of Experian account any more I am unable to verify the validity of this claim. 

I also have been repeatedly emailing the thread associated to my initial report # : XXXX, asking for updates on Experian to find the extremely sensitive and important documents that they required me to send to them as part of their resolution. Every time I email I am simply told that they havent located these documents. Ive emailed asking for assistance on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and today XX/XX/XXXX. Every time Ive been absolutely 0 support despite following Experians procedure.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation