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: NC

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint as a witness and spouse on behalf of my husband, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, regarding Equifax Information Services LLCs handling of identity-theft accounts on his credit report and what appears to be a systemic pattern of ongoing FCRA violations and noncompliance with the XXXX XX/XX/year> enforcement order and remediation plan. 

My husband is a XXXX veteran, and I manage and oversee all of our household finances, credit accounts, and applications. If my husband legitimately opened or authorized a credit account, I would know about it. Based on my personal knowledge, the following accounts being reported by Equifax are not his and are the result of identity theft : XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX account ending in XXXX ( fraudulent tradeline, later deleted and then reinserted ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card ending in XXXX ( fraudulent identity-theft account ) My testimony is that my husband did not apply for, authorize, use, or benefit from either account, and these tradelines are identity theft. 

My husband followed the federal identity-theft procedure and provided Equifax with a valid FTC Identity Theft Report, government-issued ID, proof of address, identification of each fraudulent tradeline, and written statements that these accounts do not belong to him. Under FCRA 605B, Equifax was required to block identity-theft-related information within four business days unless a narrow statutory exception applied. Instead, Equifax repeatedly refused to block these tradelines and used arbitrary, non-legal excuses ( such as page numbers and dimensions of the FTC report ) to invalidate his identity theft submissions. These are not valid reasons under 605B and appear designed to avoid the identity-theft block requirement. 

Equifax initially deleted the fraudulent XXXX XXXX account, but on or about XX/XX/year>, it reinserted the same identity-theft tradeline. Equifax did not provide the written reinsertion notice required by FCRA 611 ( a ) ( 5 ) ( B ) and has provided no proof that it obtained proper certification from the furnisher before reinsertion. When my husband requested a Method of Verification ( MOV ) under FCRA 611 ( a ) ( 6 ) ( B ) ( iii ), Equifax responded only with generic, boilerplate letters such as the account belongs to you and the information is reporting correctly, without explaining what evidence was reviewed, how the FTC Identity Theft Report was considered, or how the tradelines were actually verified. 

Based on what I have seen, Equifax is not conducting a reasonable investigation as required by FCRA 611, and it is not maintaining reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy under FCRA 607 ( b ). Instead, Equifax appears to : Ignore or downgrade identity-theft documentation and FTC Identity Theft Reports Over-rely on automated systems and furnisher responses through e-OSCAR Reinsert previously deleted identity-theft tradelines without required notice Issue template, AI-generated, boilerplate verified letters that do not reflect any real investigation This conduct matches the CFPBs findings in its XX/XX/year> enforcement order and remediation plan against Equifax, which addressed improper investigations XXXX reinsertion without proper notice, failures in identity-theft handling, and misuse of automated dispute systems. 

Importantly, this is not a situation where the facts are unclear. I have submitted a screenshot from XXXX showing that these disputed identity-theft accounts have been removed from XXXX. In addition, the XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX accounts do not appear on my husbands Experian or TransUnion credit reports. In other words, three other national consumer reporting agencies either never reported or have removed these tradelines, while Equifax alone continues to treat them as valid and verified. That is strong evidence that the problem is not with the consumer or the documentation, but with Equifaxs own dispute-handling and data-governance practices. 

My husband has already filed multiple CFPB complaints against Equifax documenting these issues, including but not limited to : XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) XXXX ( filed XX/XX/year> ) These complaints collectively describe identity theft, improper reinsertion, failure to block under 605B, failure to provide required reinsertion notices, unreasonable investigations, and inaccurate reporting by Equifax, all in the shadow of the CFPBs 2025 order and mandated remediation. 

As a witness, I attest that : My husband is an identity theft victim. 
The XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX accounts are not his, and he never authorized or used them. 
I manage his finances as his spouse and caregiver ; any legitimate account would be known to me. 
Equifaxs refusal to block these fraudulent tradelines, combined with reinsertion without notice and boilerplate verified outcomes, has caused ongoing harm, including damage to his creditworthiness, anxiety, and barriers to obtaining fair credit as a XXXX veteran. 

I respectfully ask the CFPB to : Investigate Equifaxs systemic failure to honor FCRA 605B identity-theft block requests, its reinsertion practices under 611 ( a ) ( 5 ), and its investigation procedures under 607 ( b ) and 611, in light of the XX/XX/year> enforcement order and remediation obligations. 

Determine whether Equifaxs current processes, including its use of e-OSCAR and AI-driven dispute handling, are consistent with the CFPBs 2025 order or whether Equifax is continuing the same unlawful patterns under a different label. 

Require Equifax to permanently delete and block the XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX identity-theft tradelines from my husbands file and prevent any future reinsertion without full, documented compliance with the FCRA. 

Require Equifax to correct its unfair and deceptive dispute-handling practices, ensure that its automated systems do not override consumer evidence, and implement robust controls to protect identity-theft victims and ensure accurate, fair credit reporting going forward. 

Witness Declaration : I submit this as a truthful witness statement in support of my husbands complaints. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the facts stated here are accurate and complete. When * * Experian, TransUnion, and XXXX all agree the accounts are fraudulent, and Equifax alone insists they belong to an identity-theft victim, it does not look like Equifax has discovered a higher truthit looks like Equifax has a higher noncompliance problem.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation