Equifax reinsertion of fraudulent accounts

[Anonymous]

Hi all

As you can imagine I am heartbroken right now.

Three of the items that Equifax deleted last summer showed up on my Equifax report again (this is a direct pull). I'm not entirely sure when it was, as while I pull daily, I don't check my account data really carefully unless there's an alert that something has changed. There was no alert from EQ about these items, but I do know my EQ internal score had dropped ~100 pts at the beginning of the week, so I assume this was when it happened (I don't usually pay attention to that either, just thought it was because I was disputing something recently and it hadn't updated yet). I noticed it said my monthly payments were double what they actually are so I went to check what was going on.

I called them this morning and they are telling me the items have been there the whole time. I gave them references to the hundreds of disputes that were done last year over fraudulent items and accounts merged from other files that didn't match my information, and they told me they were archived and "can't locate" my affidavit of fraud, and that they never deleted these tradelines and that I just didn't see them. As if I wouldn't have noticed an open car loan with $10,000 left on it with Chase Auto Finance for 9 months?? 

I know I can file another dispute and the information mismatch will get them deleted, but this is ridiculous. Should I be filing a complaint? 

*edit* I found the historical file information and faxed them two reports from the past showing the items were not present. I tried to access the previous dispute results, but they were purged and unavailable.

[RobertEG]

Did you use the identity theft process to have the informtion blocked (FCRA 605B) rather than disputing the accuracy of the reporting?

Information deleted as a result of a dispute can be reinserted if the furnisher provides a certification of its accuracy.

From the perspective of the creditor, they can verify the accuracy of information provided they have reasonable basis for concluding the information or account was authorized by the named consumer without proving that it was not based on identity theft.

The identity theft process was added to the FCRA to address that deficiency by permitting information to be blocked from credit reports based only on an assertion by the consumer that they did not authorize the account/information provided that assertion is in the form of a sworn statement before a law enforcement agency.

It would appear that you should use the identity theft process rather than the dispute process to get the info blocked.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Did you use the identity theft process to have the informtion blocked (FCRA 605B) rather than disputing the accuracy of the reporting?

Information deleted as a result of a dispute can be reinserted if the furnisher provides a certification of its accuracy.

From the perspective of the creditor, they can verify the accuracy of information provided they have reasonable basis for concluding the information or account was authorized by the named consumer without proving that it was not based on identity theft.

The identity theft process was added to the FCRA to address that deficiency by permitting information to be blocked from credit reports based only on an assertion by the consumer that they did not authorize the account/information provided that assertion is in the form of a sworn statement before a law enforcement agency.

It would appear that you should use the identity theft process rather than the dispute process to get the info blocked.

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Yes, I mailed in affidavits of fraud, bills showing where I lived at the time, and reported them as fraudulent accounts.

I have had over 100 disputes with them over fraud and file merging issues and they have for the majority been done by mail. The supervisor I spoke to claimed they only have 2 records of documents I sent in by either mail or fax, both of which were two weeks ago for the past year. 

I have called PRA and Chase, both of them are unable to find accounts matching my SSN and previous addresses, though my name is *very* common, so they have hundreds of accounts matching my name and claim that they have nothing inserted on my credit reports. None of these appear on Tu or Ex.

[RobertEG]

Did you specifically request block of the information under FCRA 605B?

Block of information from your credit report based on an identity theft (police) report is an entirely different process from resolution of a dispute.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Did you specifically request block of the information under FCRA 605B?

Block of information from your credit report based on an identity theft (police) report is an entirely different process from resolution of a dispute.

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Yes. 

However, it appears these accounts are the result of another file merge, and not a reinsertion of fraudulent items. 

They are working on fixing it (again), but have no estimate of when it will be handled.