This is a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I would truly appreciate your thoughts on my situation. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read the whole thing!
Hi folks,
I've been having a huge headache about anything Equifax--they can't seem to verify my identity. By this, I mean that I cannot use/proceed on any service that requires me to verify my identity using the information that Equifax has on file for me (i.e. credit score on Mint, making an online account with the Social Security Administration, filing an online dispute through the Equifax website). I enter my information exactly as-is on my latest credit report (got it through asking to a live person on the phone), but when I click submit, it says that the information I entered does not match Equifax's records. This means that I don't even get a chance to answer the "Who do you have a mortgage with in 2010" questions--just a flat-out "nope." The rub is that this is not the case for TransUnion and Experian--I have no problem with verifying my identity through those two credit bureaus. This only affects me when a website or service uses Equifax.
I've called Equifax's customer service/dispute line multiple times now and was met constantly with the same, "I don't know. Would you like to buy the Equifax monitoring service?" I was fed up with them and found the Executive Customer Service Department number. When I gave them a call and explained to them my situation, the person I talked to had no idea how to deal with the situation, and his co-workers, and even supervisor, had never encountered something like this. They were able to pull up my credit file without an issue. They triple-checked that I was not considered deceased, did not have a merged file, did not have a fraud alert, and did not have a frozen report. Ultimately, they ended the call wishing me "the best of luck."
One small exception to the inability to answer credit related questions (i.e. the mortgage example I gave in the first paragraph) is with Mint. However, this only works about 20% of the time. I put in the exact same information and 80% of the time, it will say, "We were not able to identify you. This could happen if you typed your information incorrectly, or if you have not yet established any credit history." The other 20% it takes me to the next step where I get to answer the questions. However, none of the questions apply to me (I don't have a car loan or a mortgage, I've never lived in the listed streets or cities), and when I put "None of the above," it tells me that "One of more of the answers you've stated was incorrect. Please try again with a second set of questions." The second set of questions is never generated and is stuck on that page. When I refresh the page and try it again, it doesn't take me to the second step and states the "unable to identify you" message. Also, keep in mind that I'm entering in the exact same information each time. I've tried changing up "Drive" in my address with "DRIVE," "Dr," and "DR." to no avail. I've contacted Mint support about this numerous times as well, and they just told me to check in with Equifax.
I know that Mint is connecting to my credit profile because the Executive Customer Service Representative told me that there were 18 soft inquiries by Mint the last two months (which sounds like the number of times I've tried with Mint). I don't understand why the questions they give me are not even close to what is on my Equifax credit report and why getting to the second stage is a hit-or-miss.
My CreditKarma account does, thankfully, work, and so I can verify that my creditors are faithfully reporting everything to Equifax. I've gone ahead and deleted all my old addresses on my Equifax report (through disputes--they were successful) and just kept my latest one to see if that would change anything--it didn't.
Thanks for your help in advance, MFers!
P.S. I do not have a faulty keyboard or lack the ability to type things in correctly. Or so I hope...
