Consumer complaint received 2024-03-18 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: MS

Complaint narrative:
It's recently come to my attention that the various credit reporting agencies XXXX, Equifax, and XXXX XXXX are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Privacy Act of 1974. 
Please carefully examine this complaint as my rights are being violated. 
I'm unable to acquire loans or credit that I desperately need right now to take care of my family. 
This information is damaging me. 
I'm unable to get a vehicle.

I'm unable to purchase things that I need for my family, even though that I have a right to credit.

I'm being denied it.

15 U.S.C. 1681, Congressional Findings and Statement of Purpose, Say the Accuracy and Fairness of Credit Reporting.Congress makes the following findings : There is a need to ensure that consumer reporting agencies exercise their grave responsibilities with fairness, impartiality, and a respect for the consumer 's right to privacy.

There is no respect for the consumer 's right to privacy.

But there is a need to protect my right to privacy.

Reporting my transaction history is illegal. 
Any and all consent to XXXX, Equifax, XXXX, ( Furnisher of information to credit agencies ) whether it be verbal, non-verbal, written, implied or otherwise is revoked.

15 U.S.C. Subsection 1681B says the permissible purposes of Consumer Reports, any consumer agency, consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other, in accordance with written instructions of the consumer according to whom it relates, which means they need my written consent to add anything to my consumer report and I did not give this authorization, which is a violation of the FCRA.

Furthermore, 15 U.S.C. 1681c says requirements relating to information contained in the Consumer Reports, except it's authorized under subsection b, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information, any other adverse item of information other than convictions of crimes which annotates the report by more than seven years.

Well, I have no convictions of crime and therefore I should have no discrepancies or derogatory marks on my consumer report.

This is yet another violation. My account is an adverse item they are reporting.

15 U.S.C. 1681E, Compliance Procedures, states, Identity and Purposes of Credit Users. Every consumer reporting agency shall maintain reasonable procedures designed to avoid violations of Section 1681C of this title and to limit the furnishing of consumer reports to the purposes listed under Section 1681B. These procedures shall require that prospective users of information identify themselves, certify the purposes for which the information is sought, and certify that the information will be used for no other purpose.

Every consumer reporting agency shall make a reasonable effort to verify the identity of a new prospective user and the uses certified by such prospective use prior to furnishing such user consumer report.

No consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report to any person if has reasonable grounds for believing that the Consumer Report will not be used for a purpose listed in Section 1681B of the Title.

b. The Accuracy of the report whenever a Consumer Reporting Agency prepares a Consumer Report, it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates, But the information on my report is inaccurate.

and information contained in Consumer Reports, they, Equifax, XXXX, and XXXX XXXX are violating compliance procedures under this Title.

15 U.S.C. Subsection 1681N, Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance, states that a. In general, any person who willfully fails to comply with any requirement imposed under this subchapter with respect to any consumer is liable to that consumer in an amount equal to the sum of at least {$1000.00}.

Furthermore, if they can prove they willfully violated Section 1681N, they are liable to You're entitled to at least {$1000.00} per violation and any other damages sustained as a result for failure to follow the law.

And as I stated, I have damages because I've been unable to get a loan, I've been unable to get a vehicle, I've been unable to get credit.

I can only get a secure credit card right now because of all this damaging information on my credit report.

These various reporting agencies have a full understanding of the violations that I have stated to them after I complained the first time.

Each of these companies said in their agreements with consumers that they would follow the law and agreed to do so, but they are well aware that they are breaking the law.

15 U.S.C. 1681-O, Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance .

In general, any person who is negligent in failing to comply with any requirement imposed under this subchapter with respect to any consumer, is liable to be fined {$1000.00}, Is liable to that consumer in an amount equal to the sum of any actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure. Negligent non-compliance means the law was violated not on purpose but due to a lack of knowledge on the required reporting procedures.

15 U.S.C. 1681 S-2 states responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies.

Number one, prohibition states that reporting information with actual knowledge of errors, a person shall not furnish any information relating to the consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the information is inaccurate.

The information on this report is highly inaccurate.

These agencies have been notified that there's inaccurate information and they have not stopped reporting that information and they have not been able to prove that it is in fact valid.

These violations of the F.C.R.A. are one of the reasons that I filed this complaint today and because I need your help.

The violations of the Privacy Act of 1974.

The term record means any item collection or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency including but not limited to his education, financial transactions and that contains his name or the identifying number, symbol or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.

This includes consumer reports.

Section B, Conditions of Disclosure states that no agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person or to another agency except pursuant to a written request by or with the prior written consent of the individual whom the record pertains.

I never gave any written consent nor did they send any request for my permission to disclose any of this information. Had they sent it, as theyre required by law to do, I would have denied consent.

Section 3711E of Title 31 states, When trying to collect a claim of the government under a law, the head of an executive, judicial, or legislative agency shall disclose to a consumer reporting agency information from a system of records that a person is responsible for a claim if the head of the agency has established procedures to get satisfactory assurances from each consumer reporting agency that the agency is complying with all laws of the United States related to providing consumer credit information.

As you can see, they violated the FCRA and the Privacy Act of 1974.

I have tried to opt out using the Opt Out Laws, Part 1016, Privacy of Consumer Financial Information in Regulation P.

12 C.F.R. Subsection 1016.1 Purpose and Scope. Purpose, this part, governs the treatment of non-public personal information about consumers by the financial institutions listed in paragraph B of this section. This part, one, requires a financial institution to provide notice to consumers about its privacy policies and practices.

I have been notified of no such privacy policy or practice.

Two, describes the conditions under which a financial institution may disclose non-public personal information about consumers to non-affiliated third parties, and three, provides a method for consumers to prevent a financial institution from disclosing that information to most non-affiliated third parties by opting out of that disclosure.

Every company owes me a privacy notice before they furnish any of my information on my consumer report and I have been given no such notice.

12 CFR 1016.4 Initial Privacy Notice to Consumers Required. It must be stated ... Providing clear and conspicuous notice that accurately reflects my privacy policies and practices to a customer, an individual who becomes your customer, except as provided of this subsection, and consumer, a consumer before you disclose any non-public personal information about the consumer to any non-affiliated third party.

12 CFR subsection 1016.7, the form of opt-out notice to consumers, opt-out methods, section A. The form of opt-out notice must provide a clear and conspicuous notice to each of the consumers that accurately explains the right to opt-out under that section.

The notice must state that you disclose or reserve the right to disclose non-public personal information about your consumer to a non-affiliated third party, and that the consumer has the right to opt-out of that disclosure and a reasonable means by which the consumer may exercise the opt-out right.

Two. Examples. Reasonable opt-out means you provide a reasonable means to exercise an opt-out right if you designate check-off boxes in a prominent position on the relevant forms with an opt-out notice, include a reply form together with the opt-out notice.

In the case of financial institutions described in section 1016.3, section 1, section 3 of this part includes the address to which the form should be mailed.

Unreasonable opt-out means that you do not provide a reasonable means of opting out if the only means of opting out is for the consumer to write his or her own letter to exercise that opt-out right, or the only means of opting out as described in any notice subsequent to the initial notice is the use of a check-off box that you provided with the initial notice but did not include with the subsequent notice.

Section G, time to comply with the opt-out.

They must comply with my consumer 's opt-out direction as soon as reasonably practicable after they received it, but they have not done so.

Section H, the continuing right to opt out. In general, a financial institution may not disclose non-public personal information to a non-affiliated third party unless the consumer is given the opportunity before the time that such information is initially disclosed to direct that such information not be disclosed to such third party and c. the consumer is given an explanation of how the consumer can exercise that non-disclosure option.

They were supposed to give me an opt-out notice for anything that was added to this report No such notice was ever given to me.

15 USC subsection 6805 states that the enforcement of all the infractions listed above must be directed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

That is why I have contacted you to exercise my right to opt out of anything damaging on this report at any time, and these companies have not complied as soon as reasonably practicable after I sent them a notice.

They've only given me the unreasonable means to opt out, I had to write them my own letters directing them to stop reporting in accordance with the laws listed above, and they still have not stopped reporting.

Please help me get access to my credit. 
Help me remove these damaging reports from my credit reports so that I can get credit, so that I can get a vehicle, loans, and general access to my credit so that I can take care of my family and our needs. 
Thank you very much for your time, I know this is not a brief explanation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief