Consumer complaint received 2024-09-27 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Information belongs to someone else
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: LA

Complaint narrative:
In XXXX and XXXX I filed a Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) report that included the following statement : My identity was stolen and used to attempt to open personal loans and credit cards. I received notification by mail of the attempts as the fraudulent inquiries were made from the following : XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have not requested credit since XXXX. I have identity theft with XXXX. After receiving the letters, I contacted XXXX and worked with a XXXX XXXX through XXXX. We called each agency ( above ) associated with the fraudulent inquiries on my credit bureau reports. The fraudulent inquiry with XXXX XXXX XXXX remains on my Equifax credit bureau despite all the effort I have taken to have it removed. Therefore, I WANT THE FRAUDULENT XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX REMOVED FROM EQUIFAX. All other fraudulent inquiries were removed from both XXXX and XXXX. PLEASE assist with having the XXXX XXXX XXXX hard inquiries removed from my Equifax Credit Bureau. 

I have spent several days and hours on the phone with my ID Theft Solutions Restoration Agent and Equifax since XXXX. My XXXX XXXX  advised me to write a cover letter to Equifax that included my identifying information with the FTC report and to attach the correspondence between Equifax along with correspondence from XXXX XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX - I mailed the letter to Equifax. I was then advised to follow-up the mailed correspondence with a phone call to Equifax. 

Equifax does not allow restoration agents to join the call. Therefore, I conducted each of the following calls on my own to no avail. Each time I call, I speak with representatives, then ask to speak with supervisors, then ask for the call to be escalated. 

I spend at least an hour or more on the calls and receive discrepant information. I have been told to mail the disputes. Then when I follow up in about a week or so, I am told to use their online system for disputes. 

ON a few occasions the online dispute system was not working. Therefore, I was promised a call from their tech department after being told the issue was escalated to the supervisors in their tech department. I NEVER received a follow up call. Below is the remainder of the timeline documenting each call and its subsequent results : XX/XX/XXXX - I spoke with an Equifax agent named XXXX who indicated that the hard copy I mailed had been lost and the only documents included was the cover letter and my identification cards ( i.e., license and address ). He then proceeded to share that I could upload the information. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I spoke with a supervisor named XXXX. 

XXXX informed me that I now needed to submit a police report and an FTC report. I had not been told by XXXX that I needed to submit those documents with my cover report and identification documents. Therefore, I asked to speak with another supervisor to get further clarification so that I could know exactly what documents to submit to finally have the inquiries removed. 

I spoke with a supervisor named XXXX. XXXX was rather rude however, he did confirm that I needed either a police report or an FTC report to file the online dispute. 

XX/XX/XXXX - I completed and attempted to submit the online dispute. I received error messages each time I attempted to submit the dispute. Therefore, I called Equifax for assistance and spoke with XXXX. 

After waiting on hold for over XXXX minutes, I was transferred to another agent ( named XXXX XXXX to remove the inquiry but I was hung up on. Neither agent asked for the error code I received. As indicated above, XXXX promised to escalate the call to their tech department and promised a call back from the escalation department. I never received a return call. 

During this call, XXXX also shared that I should mail the dispute and indicated that the FTC was too old. You will see in the details of todays call that the FTC agent I spoke with indicated there is no time limit or expiration on FTC reports. 

XX/XX/XXXX I placed a follow up call for assistance with submitting a dispute using their online system since I never received a follow up call. I spoke with XXXX who wanted to escalate the call to their tech support again. Since I had already been promised that option and received no solution, I asked for a supervisor. 

I spoke with XXXX who shared that the hard inquiry could be removed without the social security card. Because there was no prompt to upload an SSN card or other proof of identity documents, I had not done so but received a follow-up report via email saying they were missing. I tried to explain my frustration with their system not prompting users to submit all documents necessary to successfully dispute fraudulent inquiries. My complaints to XXXX were not heard. He merely indicated that I needed to resubmit. 

XX/XX/XXXX I re-submitted the online dispute with an updated FTC, XXXX, drivers license, cover letter, along with the correspondence/communication between Equifax, XXXX, and myself. The dispute was denied and the fraudulent hard inquiries remained on my Equifax report. 

XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX weeks ago, an agent named XXXX XXXX I believe ) told me he completed a special dispute process and assured me that the fraudulent hard inquiries would be removed from my account, that he would mail hard copies of the dispute and email an online copy. He then shared a confirmation number and promised that the inquiries would be removed in a week. He told me to check my Equifax credit bureau to make sure they were removed and if they had not been removed to call back and provide the confirmation number. 

XX/XX/XXXX Today, I had a follow-up call with my restoration agent as we have had to schedule every XXXX weeks since XXXX in an attempt to have the fraudulent inquiries removed. The hard inquiries remain so I had to place a call to Equifax XXXX. I remained on the call a total of more than an hour AGAIN. I shared the confirmation number as the agent above indicated I should, on XX/XX/XXXX, if the inquiries remained on my report. 

I spoke with XXXX. After receiving the confirmation number and accessing my information in their system, XXXX proceeded to ask if the inquiry was fraudulent and asked other information as if I was beginning the process all over again. Since XXXX seemed misinformed, I asked for a supervisor. 

The supervisor named XXXX told me she could only see the mailed documents submitted XX/XX/XXXX. I continuously asked her to check for the additional online disputes submitted in late XXXX and again in XXXX. She told me that online submissions could not be accepted for removal of hard inquiries. 

Since I had not been told this before, I asked for another supervisor. I was connected to XXXX in Consumer Affairs. XXXX was the most HORRIBLE, rude, agent I have met with in all the subsequent calls besides XXXX ( mentioned above ). 

XXXX told me that the FTC report I submitted was not valid BUT would not share why it was not valid. I had to repeatedly ask XXXX in different ways to help me understand why it was not valid so that I could finally have the fraudulent inquiries removed. 

XXXX finally shared that the report was too old and that I should contact the FTC to find out how to complete it again so that it is valid. I asked to speak to another supervisor and was told by XXXX that I had gone as far as I could go and that there was no one else to help me. 

I called the FTC and was told by the agent named XXXX that the report was exactly what it should be and was not too old and that, in fact, there was no expiration date on FTC reports. The agent further indicated that as long as the FTC report was completed and submitted she was not sure why Equifax would not accept my report as written and submitted and remove the fraudulent hard inquiries. 

I am so very exhausted and frustrated by the lack of knowledge and lack of professionalism demonstrated by most of the Equifax staff I encountered through this exhaustive process. I have done all I can as asked each different time in an attempt to remove fraudulent hard inquiries from my credit bureau. 

I have been the victim of identity theft and should not be put through such a grueling, confusing, and awful process to have it be removed to no avail. Please take action against them and help me successfully address this matter by having the XXXX FRAUDULENT XXXX XXXX XXXX HARD INQUIRIES REMOVED FROM MY EQUIFAX REPORT. Thank you

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation