Consumer complaint received 2022-02-05
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MA
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:
This dispute involves a charge account I had with Kohl 's Corporation for over 10 years, which is serviced by Capital One. 
In XX/XX/XXXX Kohl 's Corporation notified the three credit bureaus of a single late payment on my account which resulted in a 81 point decrease in my XXXX credit score and similar decreases in my scores with the other two credit bureaus.

In doing so, both Kohl 's and Capital One have violated Section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, by : - Knowingly reporting information with actual knowledge of errors, - Reporting information after notice and confirmation of errors- and failing to provide me with written notice of their intent to submit negative information to consumer credit reporting agencies. 

In addition, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX have violated Section 602 of the FCRA for failing to act impartially to investigate my dispute against Kohl 's and Capital One, which requires them to act as follows : - '' There is a need to insure that consumer reporting agencies exercise their grave responsibilities with fairness, impartiality, and a respect for the consumers right to privacy ... .and adopt reasonable procedures for meeting the needs of commerce for consumer credit, personnel, insurance, and other information in a manner which is fair and equitable to the consumer ''. T - Supporting Information : The late payment was caused by Kohl 's online billing system which turned off AutoPay enrollment for my account without notifying me, resulting in late payments. Even after numerous phone calls with Kohl 's customer service over a 3 month period to restore the AutoPay feature, customer service was unable to fix the problem. 
I provided Kohl 's customer service with a confirmation email which I received from Kohl 's on XX/XX/XXXX confirming enrollment in AutoPay as of XX/XX/XXXX which was never cancelled by me- which they do not dispute. 
Kohl 's refunded the late fees but refused to remove the negative information submitted to the credit bureaus even after my request for an investigation. I also referenced a XX/XX/XXXX statement which clearly indicates an Automatic Payment transaction on my account for that month, proving that AutoPay was activated and being used to make payments. 
In XX/XX/XXXX I filed written online disputes with XXXX, XXXX and XXXX, providing all of the above supporting information, including copies of the confirmation email from Kohl 's indicating I was enrolled in AutoPay and a copy of the XX/XX/XXXX statement demonstrating AutoPay was actively paying my monthly balance. 
As a follow-up to my dispute, I spoke with an Account Specialist at XXXX 's Dispute Department who advised they determined the Kohl 's negative report was accurate. When I questioned how they made this determination, the specialist had no response except " we accept the businesses response that the information is accurate based on FCRA guidelines. '' When asked if they had considered the proof I provided in the dispute showing AutoPay was active then disabled without any notification by Kohl 's, the specialist had no response. 
I advised XXXX that it was obvious their investigation was unfairly biased toward the financial institution and that it was inappropriate for them not to take into account Kohl 's billing system errors which I was able to prove but which they seem to have ignored. 
I also alerted them about other government and consumer reports of what are in my opinion unfair and deceptive business practices, including : - Kohl 's Online Account Management Agreement takes no responsibility for errors caused by their negligence. This has the potential to result in unfair and deceptive business practices and ultimately may give them the false impression they can act with impunity when dealing with consumers.

- Numerous online complaints on websites like ComplaintsBoard.com showing consumers having the same problem with Kohl 's cancelling AutoPay without notifying the consumer resulting in late payments and negative reports to the credit bureaus, - Over 3500 complaints against Capital One logged by consumers on the Better Business Bureau concerning similar billing problems, - The recent {$220000.00} judgement by the FTC against Kohl 's for violating the FCRA and failing to protect consumers against identity fraud, All of this information shows a similar pattern of behavior as I have experienced but XXXX and the other credit bureaus failed to act impartially and consider ANY of the information I presented which they are required to do under the FCRA.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation