fraud flag

[morganirish]

On my EQ report under credit at a glance it states:Your credit report has a “fraud flag”

Most likely, this is because you contacted Equifax with a suspicion that your credit report was being used fraudulently. When a credit report has a fraud flag, lenders follow extra precautions when granting credit based on the information in that credit report.

I haven't contacted EQ for anything.  Everything else in the report seems ok.  Should I contact EQ directly?  Not sure why it is there.

[llecs]

Did you ever contact any of the CRAs and place a fraud alert on any of them? How about disputing anything as "not mine" or similar on EQ? These are the two main ways you can have a FA on your reports. You can get it removed by calling them but I'd get ahold of a copy of your EQ from them before doing anything, just in case there's anything on there that's not supposed to be on there.

[Walt_K]

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@morganirish wrote:

On my EQ report under credit at a glance it states:Your credit report has a “fraud flag”

Most likely, this is because you contacted Equifax with a suspicion that your credit report was being used fraudulently. When a credit report has a fraud flag, lenders follow extra precautions when granting credit based on the information in that credit report.

I haven't contacted EQ for anything.  Everything else in the report seems ok.  Should I contact EQ directly?  Not sure why it is there.

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I have a similar notation on my EQ report provided by myfico.  According to EQ, there is no fraud alert on my account.  I do have a notation on all of my credit reports to verify my SSN and DOB so as not to confuse me with other people.  This is on there because my father and I have the same name and our files have gotten mixed up before.  Best I was able to determine, this notation is what is causing the EQ report from myfico to say I have a fraud alert.

[morganirish]

I haven't contacted any of them for quite some time.  I will pull a report and then contact them.

[ArtHill]

Beware of the Equifax fraud flag.  Since it appeared, they've obliterated all of my address history, deleted valid accounts, changed my address to fraudulent addresses, scammed me with one of their undisclosed websites, used it to deny me a security freeze for free, etc.etc.  I sued them.  You shouldn't have a fraud flag if you didn't add a fraud alert to your credit file with them.  If you do see a fraud flag in myFICO, you should see a message under consumer statement which tells potential creditors not to open accounts unless they contact you.  It should be a statement, not just the words "fraud alert", "fraud alerts", etc. 

[RobertEG]

Fraud alerts, either initial or extended, are only authorized to be placed in a consumer's credit file at the request of the consumer, or someone acting on their behalf.

The CRA apparently interpreted some act on the consumer's part as notification of potential fraud.

The consumer can, at any time, have a fraud alert removed by simply notifying the CRA to do so, accompanied by appropriate proof if identity.

[ArtHill]

You are correct.  Equifax did this without my knowledge or direct request from me....or any of my personal representatives (Wife).  In 2008, Equifax placed an extended fraud alert on my credit file without my knowledge and they never even referred it to any other CRA...for over 2 years.  This not only requires a request from me, but also requires official identity theft or police report and it is a crime if those documents are false.  That's the first time.  Then, in 2010, I discovered what a fraud alert should be and informed Equifax that I was aware of the fact that they placed an extended fraud alert on my file (Only says "extended fraud alert" or "fraud alert" or "fraud alert(s)") and the next day, the added a new Extended fraud alert to my file...again without a request from me accopanied by the proper documents.  Everytime I added a 90 fraud alert, up until 2010, they never placed it....never had any contact info and the alerts were not statements that would warn a user or creditor.  Equifax used the fraud alerts they were placing without my knowledge as an excuse to deny my ability to place a security freeze for free....they did that for over 2 years....and just yesterday, I was able to place a freeze on my file free of charge for the first time since I first tried on Oct. 29, 2010. 

So, if you see a fraud flag or fraud alert on your Equifax file, and you didn't request it, look out....especially if you've ever filed a complaint against them.  If your info start changing unexpectedly, it's probably a hoax to get you to belief you are or about to become a victime of ID theft....good way to raise revenue based on deception.

[ArtHill]

Also, a consumer must know a fraud alert exists before they can get it removed.  Fraud flags on EQ files are never disclosed.  Fraud Alerts can appear in various ways and most consumers may not know what they are or what they should look like.  No consumer should have to take some affirmative action to remove a fraud alert that they never requested in the first place and that's the issue with Equifax...they've done it multiple times.  A fraud alert can cause credit denials for a consumer if they are unaware of one being on their file.  Fraud flags, which are never disclosed in consumer disclosures, can do the same thing.  So far, the only research I've found relating to adding bogus fraud alerts relates to Equifax.  Excluding "Lifelock" of course as that case seemed a bit odd.