? about Equifax dispute claim

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I pulled my free Equifax report and found several errors, so I clicked on the link to dispute them. A day or so later I got an email stating they were working on my request and I would need to send them copies of my drivers license, social security card, and a utility bill in order for them to process my claim.

This give me the willies. I mean geez, why don't I just send them the keys to my house as well?

Why would they need this? I had to go through all sorts of screening in order to view my credit report, so I have already verified that I am me. And even if I wasn't me, what would that matter? I just want to correct the credit report, you know? They're going to verify whatever I say with the creditor, so even if somehow I got through all their security to someone else's credit report, if the information is wrong, why does it matter who reports it?.

However, I am me and I did report it. And I'm not (only) venting, I really would like to understand the rationale behind their request.

Have any of you ever encountered this, and what did you do? Do the other 2 credit reporting agencies require the same thing?

Thanks,

 

[lizerbug]

There is so much Identity theft these days. These are steps they need to take. What are the errors on your credit reports? If the banks have reported something incorrectly, it's probably going to be easier to contact them and have them correct the problems. I work for a bank so I know that they can go in and correct errors IMMEDIATLY, so don't let them tell you it might take from 30 to 90 days to fix. I know better

 

[TexasTom]

I would contact whoever sent the information to Equifax. Ask them to provide you the documents and sent a registered letter to dispute it with a copy goes to Equifax. You might need to check if other credit reporting agencies have the same information.

Good luck.

 

[Bren's Mom]

What kind of items are you disputing? If it is things like your name, address, etc. then I can absolutely see them asking for this.

If you're disputing the $ amount owed or incorrect dates on a loan or something then no, they should be verifying this info directly with the entity that placed that entry on your account. If they cannot verify it with them, they have to remove the entire entry.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would call Equifax directly and talk to them.

After doing the annualcreditreport stuff, I get scads of spam pretending to be the agencies, and I wouldn't click on the links in those. I would contact them directly.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

It is legit. We had to do this because of a name/address issue with a family member of the same/similar name.

 

[*Seanaci*]

I've never heard of this, personally. I disputed a few things on my credit report a year or two ago and never had to send copies of anything to verify further my identity.

Considher what you are disputing and go directly to the source to correct the info if you can. Otherwise, I would call Equifax directly and verify that what they are asking is standard procedure.

 

[LilyWDW]

Is there a phone number for Equifax on their web site? If so, call it and verify the email. If they verify that the email was from them and they are requiring the information, then at least you know it is real.

 

[dd50]

They do that at times. I had that problem a few years ago. I sent them my info with my disputes and then they sent me a letter stating that I needed to pay $10 for the report even tho I had requested my free report. I never got a corrected copy so I sent them a letter and they told me that I don't live at my address. Seems some nice creditor changed my address and they must know better than me. I have lived at the same address since the early 90's. I found them to be the worth credit reporting agencies to deal with.