Equifax Credit Reporting Agency Wrongfully Mixes Oklahoma Consumer’s File and Is Ordered by Federal Court to Stand Trial October 10, 2017

Congratulations!  You passed all of the TSA testing and we are conditionally offering you a job with the TSA with all of its benefits. The final step is a review of your credit history.  This was great news because it offered a much-needed job during a tough financial stretch in Oklahoma.  The excitement was short lived because immediately on the heels of the congratulations was an ominous notice telling this Oklahoma City consumer that the job he had just been conditionally awarded was revoked unless he could convince Equifax Information Services—a credit reporting agency—to remove thousands of dollars of bad debt and several tax liens that were being reported on his Equifax credit report.

In actuality, Equifax did not maintain a credit report for him. Instead, it maintained a single credit report for him and his brother (commonly called a “mixed file”) because their names, address history, and social security numbers were close enough to treat them as a single person. This is a too common problem for siblings, children (especially if they are a junior, third, etc.) and even unrelated individuals with similar names.

All of the information being reported to Equifax by creditors told Equifax it was wrongfully reporting false information on his credit report.  You would   think this would be easy to remedy once he told Equifax about the problem.  What he experienced over the next couple of years was a nightmare.

The TSA provided a very small window to clear up the credit reporting—14 days.  After that, the job at the TSA was no longer on the table and this Oklahoma City consumer would have to wait at least 6 months before the TSA would give him another opportunity to apply. With so little time, the consumer went to work immediately.  He called Equifax to explain that the delinquent accounts, tax liens and other negative reporting by Equifax were not his and should not be reported on his credit report.  Equifax representatives told him they could not even find a record of him in their credit file database.  What?    But how could this be true if the TSA had just relied upon a credit report prepared by Equifax to deny him the job.  Equifax told him to fax in his social security card and driver's license.  He did so immediately. He then did it repeatedly over the next couple of years as Equifax continued to mix his file with his brother's. Equifax would receive countless dispute notices from the consumer over the next two years, yet Equifax never corrected his report.  The job with TSA was lost because Equifax failed to correct the false reporting. Equifax had mixed his spotless credit profile with another person and now refused to investigate or remedy the problem.

On January 18, 2016, Darrell Taylor filed a federal lawsuit alleging Equifax's committed multiple violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act for mixing another person's bad credit files with his and refusing to investigate and remove the false reporting.  Taylor v. Equifax, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma case number CIV-16-39

The Federal District Court in the Western District of Oklahoma has set this matter for jury trial October 10, 2017.  The Plaintiff is represented by the consumer protection law firm Humphreys Wallace Humphreys PC from Tulsa, Oklahoma and with co-counsel the Baxter Law firm from Portland Oregon.

If you are the victim of a mixed file or wrongful credit reporting get your Free Case Review now.