Bizarre letter from Experian

[Anonymous]

I sent a dispute letter earlier this month, GC date received on 1/7

Today I get a letter from Experian, a 1 pager form letter that says:

"We received a suspicious request regarding your personal credit information that we have determined was not sent by you.This could be deemed as deceptive or fraudulent use of your information. We have not taken any action on this request. Any future requests made in this manner will not be processed and will not receive a response. Suspcious requests are taken seriously and reviewed by Experian security personnel who will report deceptive activity, including copies of letters deemed as suspicious, to law enforcement officials and to state or federal regulatory agencies."

It goes on to say that if I believe information in my credit report is inaccurate or incomplete, I should call them on the phone or dispute through their website.

Ok, so wtf is this? Is this a response to my dispute? A stall tactic?

What should I do in response? Don't they have to respond to my disupte in some way - either by telling me it's frivolous or by taking action and investigating? What the hell is up with this?

Is the 30/45 day clock still ticking? Need some advice on what you think this is and what I should do about it!

Ugh!

Thanks!!!

[Anonymous]

bump

[RobertEG]

Without a copy of your dispute letter to them, it is hard to say why they considered it suspicious.

Renew you dispute, and include your full name, address (hopefully already reported to them), SSN, and the full account number of the disputed information.

That should be sufficient verification.

[Anonymous]

I wrote a standard dispute letter. On it I disputed a number of accounts that are "not mine". I also disputed old addresses. Along with my dispute I provided my name, address, SSN, and I included two recent utility bills to verify my address.

I could only provide partial account numbers based off my credit report, eg 1234-5678-xxxx-xxxx

This should have been enough to verify my identity, right?

Some folks recommended I hand-write a letter to the CRA, including copies of the previous letter, telling them I did indeed write the original dispute, that they are bound by FCRA laws to take action, and they now have XX days remaining.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

They sent a letter similar to this to my husband when I wasn handling a dispute for him with his permission. It may even be that you didn't answer a security question correctly. 

[Anonymous]

There was no security question to answer - I sent my dispute via US Mail.

The form letter looks and smells like a stall tactic to me. With a consumer's full name, address, SSN, and 2 attached copies of recent bills verifying the address there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to find me in the system. I can have AU info posted to my CR with only my name and address. How on earth could they not find me with that info plus more, including SSN?

As I said, this whole thing reeks of a stall tactic to me. What a crappy way to interact with a consumer who is exersizing their rights under the FCRA to dispute incorrect information.

[breakthecycle]

This is a stall tactic by Experian. They can't handle their workload so they delay your dispute by doing this. You are one of thousands and thousands of people that have received the same letter.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the reply

I've gotten several suggestions as to what to do next.

1) Send CRA letter, informing them I did indeed send the original letter. Tell them the clock is still ticking, they have xx days remaining.

2) Send CRA letter, informing them I did indeed send the original letter. Tell them the clock is still ticking, they have xx days remaining. Also send letter to the FTC.

3) Do nothing.

I don't want to run the risk of doing 1 or 2 and having them come back and say, you provided us new information therefore we have 30 days from this date.

I don't want to run the risk of doing nothing and have them dismiss my dispute without investigating.

What do you think I should do? What are my rights when this kind of thing happens? I feel backed into a corner.

Thanks

[newstart2010]

I just sent out dispute letters to all of the CRAs.  If I get something like this back I will be sending a letter back to the CRA, stating they have XX days left, that I did write the letter, and cc the FTC and AG and BBB.  They absolutely must handle your dispute within a certain amount of time, and they must do it correctly. 

If you send them another letter it will not be providing them with new info...its reinforcing the letter previously written.  If they send you that response, send them another and cc the FTC, AG, and BBB.  They only get away with stall tactics if you let them.  And you are only backed into a corner if you put yourself there.  Stay persistent and don't give up on them. 

Good Luck!!!

[Anonymous]

The more I think about it, the more this tactic pisses me off.

I'm not going to do anything. I sent them a valid dispute letter, I provided all the necessary information. If they choose to do nothing they are violating my rights under FCRA laws.

I'm just going to let the clock time out and then hit them and the FTC with a letter demanding deletion of my disputed items under FCRA. They're trying to get me to bite so they have more time to work with. This fishy ain't biting.