Consumer complaint received 2025-12-09 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: LA

Complaint narrative:
XXXX XXXX mishandled my personal information, fraud disputes, account documentation, and credit reporting in a way that directly resulted in identity theft, unauthorized charges, long-term credit damage, and violations of multiple federal and state consumer protection laws. 

In XXXX, XXXX mailed a replacement credit card and sensitive account documents to my former address, even after I explicitly informed them that my address had changed and that no financial mail should be sent to the old location. XXXX verbally confirmed my address update, but still sent the card and dispute-related documents to the wrong address. These documents were never received by me and were not delivered to my mailbox, which exposed my financial information and directly led to fraudulent use of my account. 

Following this improper delivery, unauthorized charges began accumulating rapidly, eventually totaling between {$5000.00} and {$6000.00}. These charges included transactions I did not make, authorize, or receive any benefit from. Late fees and interest were added on top of this fraudulent activity. I immediately disputed these charges, but XXXX did not follow regulatory procedure for handling fraud or billing errors. They did not send a fraud affidavit, they did not provide a written determination, and they did not conduct a reasonable investigation under Regulation Z. 

XXXX Executive Office reached out to me in XX/XX/year> under Case No. XXXX and acknowledged receipt of my complaint, but they never resolved it. Despite telling me verbally that the fraudulent charges would be removed, nothing was corrected. Instead of fixing the matter, XXXX allowed the illegitimate balance to continue growing, and eventually they sent the disputed balance to collections. They did not update or correct the negative credit reporting, even though the account was under an active fraud dispute triggered by XXXX  own address error. 

I did not receive any final written resolution, any fraud investigation outcome letter, any corrected statements, or any communication that satisfied their obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) or Truth in Lending Act/Regulation Z. XXXX  mishandling of my information, failure to send documents to the proper address, failure to resolve the billing error, and failure to correct credit reporting all created ongoing harm that has followed me for years. My credit score and ability to obtain housing, financing, and stable credit have been negatively impacted due to XXXX violations. 

Every stage of this issue was caused by XXXX  own documented errors : They sent sensitive financial materials to an address they were told not to use. 

Fraud occurred immediately after their error. 

They failed to resolve the dispute under Regulation Z. 

They failed to investigate properly or communicate the results. 

They failed to correct the credit bureaus under FCRA 623. 

They allowed a fraudulent balance to be reported as valid debt and placed into collections. 

They abandoned the Executive Office case ( XXXX ) without corrective action. 

XXXX  conduct constitutes violations of : Regulation Z ( 12 CFR 1026.13 ) failure to properly investigate and resolve billing errors.

FCRA 602, 607, 609, 611, and 623 failure to maintain accurate reporting and correct inaccurate information after dispute.

UDAAP standards ( CFPB authority ) materially unfair and abusive practices. 
Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1405 ( consumer protection ; unfair trade practices ).

Louisiana Revised Statute 9:3526 ( improper delivery of notices ).

XXXX  own published fraud-handling policies. 

This issue is ongoing, unresolved, and continues to harm me to this day.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation