Consumer complaint received 2023-02-09
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
Below is the original letter I sent to XXXX regarding the issue with payment that caused my information to go to collections. In good faith, I made every effort to resolve this issue as soon as it was brought to my attention and I made all payments in full and am up to date with all my payments to complete my lease. The original way I found out that there was even an issue with XXXX XXXX was via XXXX XXXX at which point I reached out and made an effort to understand what the issue was. XXXX XXXX made no attempt to notify me that I was behind in payments, they never directly called or mailed anything to notify that this account was past due and would be going to collections. 
The end date of my lease recently came to an end on XX/XX/XXXX. I went to the dealership to return my car and have been working with one of the sales associate to lease another car as the sales associate and finance person both could see on their back end the notes regarding the incident and the fact that all issues have been resolved. The sales associate explained that the incident that occurred with me and the setting up of auto payment has been an issue with other XXXX customers and has caused credit problems for others as well. This is unfair that despite my efforts to work with XXXX for months to resolve this situation and despite having paid everything in full that this error has caused such a ding to my credit which now is preventing me from leasing another car and from purchasing a home. I seek a resolution with XXXX XXXX to remove this negative report on my credit as it was an issue on their end and something I attempted to resolve as soon as I became aware there was an issue. 


Letter Sent : XXXX XXXX XXXX RE : Disputing late payment. 

Hello, My Name is XXXX. I am writing on behalf of the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  that I currently lease. I received a letter from collections that I owed past payment to you. I was completely unaware of this incident until I went to try and buy a house. The month I was supposedly late on was the month I tried to set up direct deposit. I followed all the steps but apparently did not go through. I had then the following month went to make sure my payment was processed but when I logged into my account there was no payment option or review payment like there has been in the past. At that time, I assumed it was set up correctly and payments were coming out of my account. 82 days later I get a collection notice via mail. As soon as I got that letter, I called XXXX and wanted to know why. It was then that I found out after speaking to one of your representatives that the payment option disappears on your account if you have a late payment. I knew absolutely nothing about this. Especially thinking it was set up correctly. I did not receive a call from anyone at XXXX stating this was going to collections. Once this was brought to my attention, I reached out to the collections company and paid everything in full. I had the money, and this was an honest mistake. I would really appreciate it if this would be removed from the credit bureaus as I am trying to purchase a home for my future. This is my fourth XXXX I have had with you guys, and you have been nothing but great to me. 
I really look forward to this being solved and hearing from you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation