Consumer complaint received 2025-12-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I am filing a complaint against Equifax for failing to honor my rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) in connection with an identity theft dispute and a requested FCRA 605B block. 

On XX/XX/year>, I submitted an FTC Identity Theft Report, proof of identity, and a written statement to Equifax requesting that it block a fraudulent XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account from my credit file under FCRA 605B ( 15 U.S.C. 1681c-2 ). Equifax invalidated this identity theft report but refused to provide a written explanation stating why, even after I asked for XXXX. 

On XX/XX/year>, after Equifax confirmed it had received my identity documents and written statement, I submitted an updated, more complete FTC Identity Theft Report with additional details, including the full account number that I did not have at the time of the first dispute. Equifax again treated the report as invalid. 

On XX/XX/year>, an Equifax representative told me that my FTC Identity Theft Report was considered invalid because it did not have page numbers in the bottom corner and allegedly should have contained two pages. There is no requirement in the FCRA or Regulation V that an Identity Theft Report contain page numbers or a specific number of pages. The statute requires only : ( 1 ) proof of identity, ( 2 ) an Identity Theft Report, ( 3 ) identification of the fraudulent information, and ( 4 ) a statement that the information does not relate to any transaction by the consumer. I provided all of these itemstwice. 

To remove any possible excuse, I then prepared and submitted an updated multi-page FTC Identity Theft Report with page numbers clearly visible, together with my ID, proof of address, and a list of the fraudulent items. These materials meet and exceed the requirements of FCRA 605B. 

On XX/XX/year>, I called Equifax and spoke with XXXX, a supervisor in the fraud department, to confirm receipt of the documents submitted through the CFPB portal on XX/XX/year>. XXXX told me that Equifax did not have these documents and could not see them in its system. However, the CFPB complaint portal status dated XX/XX/year> states company response in progress and explicitly says : Equifax has received your complaint submitted through the CFPB portal. This is a direct contradiction between what Equifax is telling me and what is reflected in the official CFPB portal. 

Equifax is ( 1 ) refusing to block identity theft information within the required four business days after receipt of a valid Identity Theft Report under 605B, ( 2 ) refusing to provide the written explanation required by 605B ( c ) if it denies or rescinds a block, and ( 3 ) creating arbitrary technical barriers ( such as page-number formatting ) that are not part of the FCRA or Regulation V. These actions also appear to violate FCRA 611 ( failure to reasonably reinvestigate and correct inaccurate or unverifiable information ) and 607 ( b ) ( failure to maintain reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy ), especially where Equifax claims it can not locate identity theft documents that the CFPB portal shows as received and in progress.

Equifaxs conduct is causing ongoing harm by allowing a fraudulent tradeline to remain on my credit report, undermining the accuracy and privacy protections that the FCRA is designed to guarantee.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief