Consumer complaint received 2017-07-15
Company: FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO.
State: FL
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:
In XXXX of XXXX I was blessed with being able to purchase one of the very last XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX available in the state of Florida. During the term of the loan I had multiple late payments reported to all XXXX credit bureaus that have been falsely filed. After the first notice of a 30 day late in my credit monitoring service I sent in a message in the dashboard and was sent an auto-reply saying they would respond within one business day. I never got a response however I set up a chat online and the representative saw my reasoning for the dispute and told me to send a letter to their dispute center in XXXX, Ne. I never received a response so I disputed it with all XXXX bureaus and got back a verified response. Obviously it was incorrect and hurt my credit scores but after showing the bureaus of my payment on time they still would not update the history and didnt know what to do. The same thing would happen multiple times through my loan term with Ford Credit and it was a simple error on their side that their chat and phone representatives acknowledged each time I contacted them. Below is the list of lates they have reported incorrectly. This information has been sent to Ford Credit 6 different times and 4 times in the last 4 months.
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XX/XX/XXXX- First late 30 day late reported.
XXXX due date- XX/XX/XXXX.
Payment scheduled online XX/XX/XXXX for delivery on XX/XX/XXXX. Posted on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX payment only 11 days late, however their grace period was 10 days and I scheduled prior to the 10 day period and contacted through chat to make a notice to not get charged late fees. Late fees were NOT added, but a 30 day late was but was only 11 days off from delivery of payment for that month.
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XX/XX/XXXX- 30 Day late reported Due date XX/XX/XXXX Scheduled payment onXX/XX/XXXX for delivery XX/XX/XXXX. Payment posted on XX/XX/XXXX. 7 days late, not 30.
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XX/XX/XXXX- Payment extension filed for XXXX payment on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX payment became due on XX/XX/XXXX. I got a late notice for XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I set up the payment on XX/XX/XXXXfor delivery on XX/XX/XXXXand it posted on XX/XX/XXXX. I made a payment for {$840.00}. I may have been 29 days late from the time it posted on my account, and only 27 days from the delivery of the payment but I was NOT 30 days late.
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XX/XX/XXXX- 30 Day late reporting Due date was on XX/XX/XXXX. I setup the payment on XX/XX/XXXX for delivery onXX/XX/XXXX with a notice it posted onXX/XX/XXXX XXXX was late by 14 days from the time it posted not 30.
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XX/XX/XXXX- 30 Day late reporting Due date was on XX/XX/XXXX. I setup the payment on XX/XX/XXXX scheduled forXX/XX/XXXX and was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. Late by 5 days not 30.
<P/>XX/XX/XXXX- 30 Day late reporting Due date was on XX/XX/XXXX. I setup the payment on XX/XX/XXXX for delivery on 1XX/XX/XXXX and was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. I was 16 days late not 30.
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XX/XX/XXXX 60 day late reporting Due date was on XX/XX/XXXX. Payment was made with cash on XX/XX/XXXXand was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. I was 29 days behind for XXXX but once again, not 30 and definitely not 60. Time frame never added up to me on how they were reporting this.
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XX/XX/XXXX- 30 day late Due date was on XX/XX/XXXX. I made a cash payment onXX/XX/XXXX and it posted on XX/XX/XXXX. Got a past due notice on XX/XX/XXXX but was told they are automatically generated not to worry via chat because it was a cash payment so it would not report as late even though it posted two days later. I was 0 days late, and not 30. I also made a payment for {$1000.00} that day which I can explain later.
<P/>XX/XX/XXXX- 30 day late reporting When I made the payment for {$1000.00} in XXXX it was to cover the XXXX and XXXX payments. My payments were just over {$400.00} so I actually had some credit built up. However, when I got my next statement the {$1000.00} was credited to the account but it showed I still owed a balance on XXXX which was not possible. I called Ford because I was considering trading in the truck then for a newer car and better mileage. I talked with 4 different agents and all of them were incredibly rude as if I was trying to take advantage of them in someway. I explained that I had these reports and had my dates of payments, etc. and it turned out to be the payment extensions I had filed were pushing back that current months payment of the extension but when the next month came to statement the balance from the previous month was being added back to the account. When they setup the extensions for me they also added an extra month to my loan term and I was to only be charged for the interest and payment extension fee of {$15.00}. The agent figured out what was going on and it had been messing up my account for nearly a year. Apparently it was some kind of technical glitch and the agent told me that they would notate it on my report, open a dispute for me with their credit department, and have a letter sent to me. They also told me that a XXXX. payment was not due because of the error and I had credit built up on the account as it should have been. This error accounted for late payments to be reported for the months of XXXX. through XXXX. What a mess!!!
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XX/XX/XXXX 60 day late.
After the issue supposedly being resolved by the credit department I was actually notified there was an account change on my credit report and the account was Ford on XX/XX/XXXX. All of my payment history had actually been deleted and the status to show " paid as agreed '' and the date of delinquency as " n/a ''. I asked the bureaus if not having a history hurt my score and if I should have it updated to showing the payments and they said it would not matter because the months reported would still be current to the amount of the loan.
<P/>XX/XX/XXXX payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX. I setup the online payment on XX/XX/XXXX for delivery on XX/XX/XXXX and it posted onXX/XX/XXXX. Now, my balance at the time showed as {$1000.00} because the error had not been corrected. I talked with the chat support once again and he told me that he saw the dispute and it should be taken care of soon but I went ahead and made the payment for the full amount due so it would show as {$0.00} but just as the agent on the phone and the one on chat they both agreed I would have a credit for basically one month on the account. Awesome!
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XX/XX/XXXX payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX. I knew I was getting a credit and didnt worry about it until I applied for a home loan and the loan officer told me I had a ton of lates on my Ford account. I logged in to my credit reporting website and sure enough the payment history had been added back to the account inaccurately so I started a new dispute once again sending to the bureaus as well as the credit department from Ford. I got back a verified letter from the bureaus and when I grilled them on who and how it was verified they said they didnt have to have it as a physical document which I know is not true. How can they just say its verified without any proof from the creditor and I never received anything back from Ford. This actually caused me to lose money on securing a home and forced us to move into an apartment with a newly XXXX fiance. It was a disaster and again called Ford for answers.
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The agent I spoke with was very nice looking over the information they had but she could not make any changes so she put me on to someone else and they were absolutely disgusting. The tone, the responses, the lack of help was so unprofessional. She would say, sir I see that you have been behind on a regular basis and we do not provide courtesy reporting removals unless it is disputed and youre information is correct. I explained my information was correct, I had it sent to Ford and the bureaus, and the phone and chat agents had updated my records for the disputes and saw where I was right. They had me paying a month in advance every month for a long time and never noticed it. The lady ended up hanging up on me.
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I didnt know what I was going to do or what I could do but after speaking with a manager at XXXX with the power to manually update the criteria he gave me his information and fax to update the information. It took almost 50 days to get an update which was not in my favor once again. I was told the information was verified but again nothing showing how or why it was verified. There was no way it could be right because even agents from Ford saw it was incorrect and tried to help me dispute it.
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The payment for XXXX was reported late because of all of this. I was actually one month ahead but since I understand that it is computers and not people reporting the payments it was sent incorrectly.
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The XXXX  payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX. I setup the payment on XX/XX/XXXX and it posted on XX/XX/XXXX. Finally, my report showed on time.
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XX/XX/XXXX- Showing paid. After all the fighting I did finally have a credit shown on my account and it showed no payment was due for XXXX.
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XX/XX/XXXX6- My statement showed that I now owed for XXXX and XXXX. Because I had to pay for so many things up to us moving into a new apartment I asked for an extension and the chat agent set it up for 2 months because he said it would include XXXX. I wasnt happy with that because it should have been a credit for XXXX, but I took it and my report did not show any lates for XXXX, XXXX, or XXXX. The agent told me the next payment would be due on XX/XX/XXXX.
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Since my next payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX and we had just moved, I knew that I could have until XX/XX/XXXX to get the payment into them before being 30 days late and because of the move I was still getting things straightened out. On XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX I went to a Ford dealership looking for something to trade in for and get better mileage as well as room for a new baby. On XX/XX/XXXX I called Ford and chatted with an agent ( always both to verify it was actually noted ) and asked them if I was trading in the truck if I needed to make a payment before XX/XX/XXXXand that I did not want a late payment. They said that I shouldnt make a payment because it may not post in time for the dealer to see my balance was lower and it could cause issues. When I got to the dealer on XX/XX/XXXX I told them to call Ford Credit and remind them I was trading in the truck and they told Ford Credit it could take 10 days to show up as paid but they didnt want me to be hit with a late payment either. Ford agreed and we moved on.
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XXXX lists a late payment on my report for XXXX and XXXX shows it was paid on time but shows my current status as 30 days late.
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As you can see, I have all of my dates, my contact with Ford, and the frustration on this account documented very well. I have all of the emails from Ford showing my payment dates and amount, scheduled amounts, posted dates, etc for the months in question.
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It really is a simple solution because all of this stemmed from the payment extensions and so when the original date for example of XXXX was pushed back to XXXX and a payment was made in XXXX the payment in XXXX would look as though the previous month was 30 days late and it wouldnt be credited for XXXX, but that is not correct because there was an extension granted for that month and a month added to my loan term.
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Lastly, on this account when I disputed the account for the first time in XX/XX/XXXXI actually had the late payments of XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX added to my report after it had been closed for more than 8 months. Not sure how thats possible but it was added on my XXXX report.
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To clarify, I have sent documents to Ford and all three bureaus. I never got back any verification from either source only a verified or even a dispute not specific response and nothing changed. It really is a simple mistake and I do not blame Ford, or the individual workers there for the information reported by a computer but I would love this to be resolved.
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On XX/XX/XXXX I did a three way call with XXXX and Ford and the CSR named XXXX said Ford did not have any documentation on my payment history and he admitted he didnt have any idea how it could be verified without that information but was not in the power to have it removed personally and I was told to mail in my dispute.
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This is really unfair because Ford Credit could report anything they want and they would not have anybody force them to correct it so that is what I hope you all can do.
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I know I may not have paid on the due date every single time but I was actually ahead more often than not after the payment extension fiasco and if I was after the payment due date I was certainly never 30 days or more. That may not be the best way to go about payments but I own my own business and I was doing everything I could to keep my account in good standing and my credit report clean!
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This inaccurate reporting is hurting my ability to obtain a home loan and I have desperately asked Ford Credit and the two bureaus with the incorrect information to be updated quickly so I can close on my home loan and get the best possible rates.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation