Consumer complaint received 2025-08-13 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: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I have been corresponding with Experian to XXXX XXXX of exhaustion for nearly XXXX year regarding a trade line on my credit report that is a result of identity theft from XXXX Bank XXXX I initially learned of the process prescribed in the FCRA to have information blocked in ones credit report that resulted from identity theft approximately XXXX year ago. I filed an Identity Theft Affidavit with a federal law enforcement agency, the Federal Trade Commission, gathered supporting documentation and submitted the block request to all XXXX major credit bureaus. Both XXXX  and XXXX  immediately complied and blocked the information within XXXX days. Experian refused to block the information citing insufficient documentation and requested additional documents. At first, I thought this could be resolved easily, as the initial request was for a utility bill or government-issued ID card to verify my identity to proceed. 

Unfortunately, this began almost an entire year of going back and forth with Experian regarding my ID Theft Block request. Upon submitting identity validation documents as requested, Experian would go back and request the FTC affidavit again, as if providing them additional documents started a whole new case. Id provide them with the affidavit again, then would receive another email refusing the block due to lack of utility bill or ID. It even got to the point where Experian accused me of fabricating the FTC affidavit and requested an email confirmation from the FTC that confirmed the report was filed. I immediately provided this confirmation email to them, when they denied to block the information again, requesting the original affidavit, as if they are incapable of attaching XXXX document to an existing case. 

This loop went around and around for about XXXX XXXX, until I finally got frustrated and sent a legal notice to Experian about XXXX XXXX ago, stating that if they did not comply with the FCRA and block the information in my credit report within XXXX XXXX, that I would pursue civil litigation against them for irreparable financial damage and breach of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 

An important point I made to Experian around this time was that their document upload service only accepts XXXX documents at a time, so it was physically impossible to upload all required documents they requested in XXXX session, attaching them all to XXXX case to fulfill all their requirements. 

Once I committed to legal action, and notified Experian that their system intentionally doesnt allow every requested document to be uploaded together, thus starting a new dispute each time that inevitably lacked a requested document causing the ID Theft Block request to be denied, I finally made progress about XXXX weeks ago. Finally, after pushing Experian to look back and combine together all documents requested from the previous cases to create XXXX full dispute, the trade line was deleted. I was so relieved that this trade line I had fought so hard to remove, that resulted from identity theft, was gone. I could finally move on and make plans to purchase a new car, or eventually a home without that item damaging my credit report and financing prospects. 

Just as I finally thought this absolutely awful disgrace of a process to get Experian to comply with federal law was over, today I wake up to check my email and find a notice from Experian. After nearly XXXX year correspondence regarding the block of this trade line, attempting so diligently to fulfill their requirements of requested documents being submitted, in a manner sufficient to them, and also reaching the point of a Notice of Intent to Sue having to be sent that eventually helped to push them into compliance with the FCRA, they informed me via random email today that they have reinserted the deleted trade line into my credit report after new information was presented showing somehow I made the request in error or that I knew or should have known that I received goods or money from the use of this credit card account. 

No new information to support their claim was provided, and I cant possibly begin to imagine what new information could have been suddenly discovered after this trade line was researched for nearly a year while working to get the initial block that could provide them with reasonable grounds to rescind the ID Theft Block in accordance with the FCRA. The rescinding of an ID Theft Block per federal law must be on actual reasonable grounds based on new information not previously known to Experian prior to the initial block. That information simply does not exist, as I never received any goods from the use of a XXXX Credit Card. It is simply inconceivable that after such a struggle to meet their requirements to block this trade line, that should have been blocked within XXXX XXXX nearly a year ago when I initially requested it, that the block would be rescinded and place my credit report back where it was before the start of this process, reintroducing fraudulent information into my credit file, knowing full well that there is no grounds to do that. 

This has only reopened Experian to legal liability and further monetary damages beyond what could have initially been sued for. This is negligence, breach of the FCRA and as cliche as it is to say, emotional distress. If Experian does not make this right and block the trade line as they did a few weeks ago, I will pursue legal action and I reserve the right to use the entire period of time that this negligence has gone on to seek damages in court. This must be made right. 

I also want to note, for the Experian staff reviewing this complaint, you already have all the requested documents related to this ID Theft Block request on file, so there should be absolutely no delay in rectifying this by placing the block back on the XXXX XXXX  account XXXX I will not allow you to continue to claim new documents must be submitted any time this case is brought up simply in your attempt to maliciously delay and deny a legitimate ID Theft Block request. XXXX  and XXXX  have never caused this large of a problem and you should follow suit.

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