topic Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete. in Rebuilding Your Credit

Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:09:40 GMT

Hello.

I filed an online dispute with Equifax and 30 days came and went with the status still being listed as "pending" and with an estimated completion date of July 15, 2011 (which would have been 29 days since the dispute was intiated). Then 45 days came and went with the status still listed as "pending" and no e-mails that list the dispute as resolved.

Today when i called to ask them to delete the items that I was disputing they claimed thate the investigation was completed July 14, 2011 and that they wouldn't delete the one remaining item.

Without them having sent me an e-mail stating that the issue was resolved or updating the website to show that I see nothing that prevents them from lying about the date that they completed the investigation.

The person i spoke to on the telephone was spectacularly difficult to communicate with so I gave up rather than try to argue with her.

Is there something I can do to address this? I'd love to have that final negative item deleted. It's been on my report for 11 years now and without the delete it looks like it's stuck there for another year or two (lesson learned: never co-sign on a loan for a deadbeat sibling).

Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

llecs — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:56:37 GMT

It can still be within CRTP at an age of 11 years old. It depends on the DOFD. ~~When was it first late to where you never recovered?~~

ETA....I reviewed your other thread and noticed that this baddie is still within the 7-7.5 year period. DOFD is less than 7 yrs ago. They can still report. I'd keep sending GW letters.

Bumping for others on the 45-day period. Do you still have a copy of the green card if you disputed via mail? Can you prove that 45 days lapsed after they signed for your dispute? IMO, your only recourse would be to go after EQ but that baddie would have come and gone before you have a chance to legally pursue this.

Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

llecs — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:57:57 GMT

Bump.

Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:24:30 GMT

I think the thing that stands out for this particular dispute is that they never notified me of a result, but claim that the investigation was completed on July 14, 2011.

If i go to the website they link in their e-mails the dispute is still listed as pending (and with an estimated completion date of July 15, 2011).

My issue is that they don't want to delete because they say that the investigation was completed within the time limit despite not having ever notified me of a resolution be either postal mail or e-mail nor have they updated the status on the website.

I think that I am within my rights to request that everything I disputed be deleted, no?

I cited FCRA 611 on the phone, but I am pretty sure i was speaking to India and they had no idea what I was talking about. Additionally, she wouldn't let me talk to a supervisor or transfer my call to anybody else.

After doing a bit more research into FCRA 611 this afternoon I think I found the part that fits my case.

FCRA 611 (a)(6)

(a) Reinvestigations of disputed information.

(6) Notice of results of reinvestigation.
(A) In general. A consumer reporting agency shall provide written notice to a consumer of the results of a reinvestigation under this subsection not later than 5 business days after the completion of the reinvestigation, by mail or, if authorized by the consumer for that purpose, by other means available to the agency.
(B) Contents. As part of, or in addition to, the notice under subparagraph (A), a consumer reporting agency shall provide to a consumer in writing before the expiration of the 5-day period referred to in subparagraph (A)
(i) a statement that the reinvestigation is completed;
(ii) a consumer report that is based upon the consumer's file as that file is revised as a result of the reinvestigation;
(iii) a notice that, if requested by the consumer, a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information shall be provided to the consumer by the agency, including the business name and address of any furnisher of information contacted in connection with such information and the telephone number of such furnisher, if reasonably available;
(iv) a notice that the consumer has the right to add a statement to the consumer's file disputing the accuracy or completeness of the information; and
(v) a notice that the consumer has the right to request under subsection (d) that the consumer reporting agency furnish notifications under that subsection.

This seems to say that they must provide notice to me within 5 days of completing their investigation. If they maintain that they completed the reinvestigation on July 14, 2011 then they would have been required to notify me in writing by July 19, 2011, but i have received no notification by either e-mail, postal mail, or their dispute resolution website.

This suggests to me that they are in violation of the FCRA and should be required to delete the items i disputed.

Am I correct in this assessment? Is there a process to pursue these deletes now that there's a FCRA violation?

(edited to clarify the july 15, 2011 completion date was an *estimated* date)

Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:22:38 GMT

i disputed it online via the Equifax website and when you do that they send you an e-mail confirming that you initiated a dispute as well as providing you with a confirmation number that you can use to check the status of the dispute resolution process.

After the initial confirmation e-mail they sent a form e-mail every three days saying "We are continuing to process your recent dispute; as a reminder, it may take up to 45 days to complete your dispute from the date you submitted to Equifax. We will continue to keep you posted on the status of your dispute by sending periodic email notifications."

Interestingly enough, the last of those e-mails was sent on July 13, 2011 (i was already out of the country and not paying attention) but there was never a follow up e-mail.

I had disputed things last year and got an e-mail that said.... "Equifax Information Services LLC"This is a courtesy reminder that Equifax has completed processing your dispute for this Confirmation Number.You may view the results of your dispute by visiting our website at https://www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation In order to view the status of your dispute you will need: Your dispute Confirmation Number provided in the subject line of this email.The email address you provided Equifax when you submitted this dispute. You have 30 days remaining to access the results of your dispute from our website. You may not be able to obtain you results online if you do not access our website by 08/28/2010. Please DO NOT REPLY to this email as this is a system generated email and no one will read your reply."

Once I received THAT e-mail i was able to check the results on their website.

Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

llecs — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:32:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think that I am within my rights to request that everything I disputed be deleted, no?....

....This suggests to me that they are in violation of the FCRA and should be required to delete the items i disputed.

Am I correct in this assessment? Is there a process to pursue these deletes now that there's a FCRA violation?

I don't know. I'll guess not. What if you disputed a date or a TL that hadn't updated a balance? If the 30-45 day expired should they delete the entire TL? I have no doubt your 45 day period lapsed because there seems to have been a number of complaints recently on here about EQ, but it boils down to the legal process to pursue this. They are saying they responded in mid-July with an answer so in their mind they completed the dispute and verified it within the allotted time. I think the only way you can take further action is to sue them. A pointed above, I think it will take longer to sue EQ than it would to let it fall off naturally. Even if you did prove they took longer than 45 days and they didn't verify it within the required time, I still don't see that as a basis for deletion.

If you did pursue it, there are some consumer attorneys out there who like these kind of suits. Be sure to check your state law too. Some have laws on the books that mimic the FCRA, but on a state level.

Re: Equifax dispute exceeded 45 days, but they won't delete.

tamdugg1980 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:43:21 GMT

I've had the same issue with Equifax regarding a dispute I initiated online. Matter of fact, it is still showing pending even though the completeion date on the dispute was 07/20/2011, the dispute was submitted 06/20/2011. I think it is something wrong with their dispute software. I submitted another dispute of the same tradeline and they "verified" it, but when I receivied the verification, it listed two collecton accounts that had nothing to do with my credit report. I called them to verifty and the representative read every tradeline on my credit report. Their disputing software unfortunately sucks. You may want to try calling their customer service department, and maybe they can be of more assistance.