So I got my credit report the other day to check my FICO score and such and discovered a (small) error on it. No big deal, I’ve disputed stuff before – pretty painless. Well this time it was -uh- a little less smooth process…
- Dispute the error. Equifax has a web site just for this (https://www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/jsp/ECC_Welcome_User.jsp). Fill out some info and search around a bit to figure out how to dispute the negative info (why it doesn’t default to that section of the report I’ll never know) but not too bad.
- Get email saying it’s processing and it could take 45 days to complete
- Get email a few days later saying dispute process complete and to go to equifax.com/CreditInvestigation with dispute # to see results
- Follow link and find yourself at the same welcome screen from step 1… no problem look for place to login with dispute #… find none
- Check FAQ and find link to check dispute status
- Follow link and find yourself at the same welcome screen from step 1…
- Try contact us link… which sends to back to main equifax site and requires login (need to protect those 800#s)
- Login and check to see if credit report is update… nope
- Find dispute status link on main site
- Follow link and find yourself at the same welcome screen from step 1…
- Waste time clicking on anything on the page that could possibly take you somewhere you can login
- Find phone # on main site and call it
- Select option 1 at prompt for disputes
- Select option 1 at prompt that I have a dispute #
- Listen to long description of how one can dispute items on credit report: online… mail… telephone… which then repeated. Apparently the fact that I’m on the phone punching buttons for dispute is not enough for this system to believe that I want to continue my dispute on the phone unless I listen to this long spiel about how the process could work so I know what button to push (never mind the fact that possessing a dispute # means that I have already initiated the dispute process so this info is pretty useless at this point).
- Get a real person.
- Explain situation.
- Be told I need to contact the dispute department!!!
- Explain how many dispute choices I had to select to reach said person
- Take new phone #
- Select option 1 at prompt for disputes
- Select option 1 at prompt that I have a dispute #
- Enter dispute # at prompt
- While waiting on hold the computer says this can all be checked online at investigate.equifax.com (a different URL) so check that while on hold: said web does not exist.
- Get a real person
- Give dispute # to real person
- Hear that my dispute has been resolved in my favor!
Scary that a company that holds a country’s credit lives in their hands can’t coordinate a web site or a phone system effectively. That’s why they need to make sure that the data they posses are well-secured with the help of experts from gigacycle.