Consumer complaint received 2021-10-25
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: NV
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: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
UPDATEXX/XX/XXXXI have an issue with Experian still holding a negative impact on my credit score re : a late payment during COVID (XX/XX/XXXX) on a XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX card I hadnt been using at all, but must have had a small auto pay from a subscription. We were letting our mail sit and letting the XXXX envelope sit longer because I knew I hadnt been using the card due to poor service when traveling, but one day I checked my XXXX score on my XXXX account to find it had dropped significantly due to XXXX dropping my credit line from nearly $ XXXX to {$500.00} over the delinquency of a balance less than {$40.00} during COVID for a customer of roughly 25 years. I immediately paid the bill and closed the account so that wouldnt happen again. This has made rectifying the problem with XXXX impossible and caused lasting issues with Experian. I had tried to correct this individually with each credit reporting company. XXXX and XXXX have removed the impact of the negative incident with XXXX ; Experian is still a problem as they continue to factor it into their score. They were unreachable by phone or email at the time to resolve the issueI gave up, but have recently added their app in hopes of getting through to them. Please inform Experian that they need to REMOVE the XXXX incident and restore my score. 

ORIGINAL COMPLAINT BELOW : Note : This is a general dispute letter I have drafted to get the 3 credit bureaus to adjust my credit score back into the good standing it was prior to the retaliatory action taken by XXXX XXXX XXXX  for nonuse of a credit card and 1 delinquent payment during the start of COVID 19. My credit score instantly dropped 78-86 points on an account that had been closed and on which XXXX XXXX XXXX had unfairly dropped my credit limit from {$69000.00} to {$500.00} despite impeccable payment history for 25 years. It should also be noted thaXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was asked to contact the credit bureaus to rectify this problem, but despite the agent 's shock at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXs drastic action, said they couldn't do anything because I had closed the account. I asked them to please explain how I am to correct this egregious action if they don't send updated info to the credit bureaus ... Catch 22? They indicated that I had to contact the credit bureaus on my own to fix the problem. I called all 3. XXXX submitted a dispute as did XXXX after logging it in online, but Experian has been having tech difficulties on both phone calls and online/app services such that I had to submit a written dispute to their headquarters, which I promptly did via sending off the letter below. I have since adjusted the letter to address all 3 credit unions as it appears no actions have been taking to restore my excellent credit score after this one incident dinged my score my 78-86 points. Yikes!!! Please keep in mind that screenshots and links to other documents did not copy/paste to this response, but are included in the uploaded document. Start of Letter : 3-Credit Bureau Credit Dispute with XXXX XXXX XXXX  Credit Card : Social Security Email address : Current Address : Old Address : DISPUTE : To Whom it May Concern at Experian, XXXX, and XXXX, XXXX have had a XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card since XXXX. We were good customers for roughly 25 years. Over the years, I have had issues with B of A customer service and credit-card policies that have caused me to stop using the card as my primary credit card : Backdrop : XXXX ) During the late XXXX, I wrote a check ( when people used to still hand write checks ) for {$1200.00} for payment, they cashed it for {$12000.00} because we had an auto backup account to our savings for overdrafts. XXXX XXXX XXXX  took no responsibility for their error and I was told that I would now have to wait out an FBI investigation ( several months ) because the amount was over {$10000.00}, meeting the threshold that apparently triggered an automatic investigation. That was painful, but I kept the card and we struggled for cash until the investigation rectified the XXXX XXXX XXXX  error. 2 ) During several times of travel over the years, XXXX XXXX XXXX canceled my card without warning, including a car trip to visit my daughter at college 6 hours away, where I stopped in XXXX, CA at XXXX ( 2 hours from home ). By the time I got to my destination, the card had already been canceled. Hugely inconvenient to say the least! Thank XXXX I had another card I could use for gas on the way home. This happened on multiple occasions during other travel. As a result of poor customer service and credit card policies at XXXX XXXX XXXX, I felt that they were no longer a reliable source of credit and chose to make it my backup card instead of the primary card it had been for 20+ years. However, I chose to keep the card vs close it because they had raised my credit limit to {$69000.00}, and I figured Id keep it as an emergency card due to the high limit. Strangely, I had never asked for my limit to be increased... they did it automatically. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXXand COVID 19 ... I was still not using my XXXX XXXX XXXX card for purchases and had transfered all of my utilities and other bills onto autopay with other credit cards. During the early months of XX/XX/XXXXafter COVID 19, I was not opening my mail as quickly, letting it sit for days for safety reasons ... and paying bills online. I had not attended to the XXXX XXXX XXXX statement because I had not been using the card at all, and assumed there was a zero balance. When I opened the statements for XXXX and XXXX, I was shocked to see there was a balance of {$370.00}, which I immediately paid off upon opening in mid XXXX. I paid {$330.00} on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( 3 DAYS LATE ) and {$42.00} cleared on XX/XX/XXXX. SEE XXXX PAYMENT OF {$330.00} ON MY XXXX XXXX XXXX BANKING AND XXXX TRANSACTION OF {$42.00} ( screenshots of payment history from checking account ) CONFIRMATION ON MY XXXX XXXX XXXX STATEMENT FOR XXXX XXXX OF BOTH TRANSACTIONS ( screenshot of XXXX XXXX XXXX Statement ) PAYMENT HISTORY FROM XXXX SHOWS ONE DELINQUENT PAYMENT OF 60 DAYS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC BECAUSE I DIDNT OPEN MY MAIL ON A CARD I HADNT BEEN USING ( screenshot from XXXX showing payment history of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I believe what happened is that I didnt realize that I would even have any charges on my card that I hadnt been using and from which I had believed I had removed all autopay transactions. However, that being the case, I PAID the total of {$370.00}, much of which was from late charges. My lack of use of the XXXX XXXX XXXX card combined with a couple of honest late payments during COVID 19 because I didnt realize there were charges, seemed to trigger drastic action on the part of XXXX XXXX XXXX toward a long-term good customer. It appears that the action was retaliatory due to my lack of use of the card vs outstanding balance or late payments. Its obvious XXXX XXXX XXXX had not considered 20+ years of good standing, not even during a pandemic on a card that had a very small balance relative to the credit limit they had extended to me based on my good customer standard over many years. It appears that the XXXX XXXX XXXX policy was to drastically reduce credit limits on accounts not in daily use or with a drop in usage and with any late payments. I believe that had my account been accruing interest on large balances or if I had been regularly using the card that XXXX XXXX XXXX would not have dropped my credit limit. Furthermore, I had not received notifications of late payments or been pre-warned that my credit limit would be dropped from {$69000.00} to {$500.00}. I feel that XXXX XXXX XXXX actions were a bit harsh given 25 years of credit history worthy of bumping my credit limit up to {$69000.00}. I feel like their actions are more retaliatory for nonuse of the card, than justified due to late payment, which is once again reflecting poor customer service from XXXX XXXX XXXX. I called them to rectify the situation, but because I had closed the account, they said that they couldnt do anything for me, but confirm that I had closed the account. They instructed me to simply contact the credit bureaus, and even the first phone rep was shocked to see the actions XXXX XXXX XXXX had taken. I have contacted the credit bureaus, but was told that since the account was now closed that there was nothing XXXX XXXX XXXX could do on my behalf. So, on top of their original poor customer service, they have affected my credit rating, and I have no direct ability for that creditor to rectify their poor judgement from their retaliatory policies. All this is not making me a big fan of XXXX XXXX XXXX to say the least!! The XXXX XXXX XXXX action to reduce my credit limit from {$69000.00} to {$500.00} has dramatically impacted and unfairly characterized my credit worthiness relative to my XXXX score and credit scores with the 3 credit bureaus as evidenced by the massive drop of 78 points by XXXX and successive drops by XXXX totalling 86 points. I was first alerted to this on my XXXX Visa online account and was mortified when I saw that it was due to a XXXX XXXX XXXX incident. I have since used XXXX XXXX to trace the sequence of events with XXXX and XXXX, and have made calls to all 3 credit agencies. Experian has been nonfunctional each time I call ... and they are in charge of my credit report when they cant even keep their house in order. I gave up on making contact with them via phone or online app due to technological difficulties, and sent them a dispute letter explaining the unreasonable and retaliatory actions of XXXX XXXX XXXX  for nonuse of their card, and have received no response from Experian. Experian seems to have long-standing tech issues and I have been repeatedly unable to log into their app. Please see these documents to see how my credit limit was unfairly reduced, causing an extreme adverse outcome for my credit score. Links showing dramatic drop of credit score for nonuse and 1-2 delinquent payments that were immediately rectified, despite a 25 year history that warranted automatically raising my credit limit to {$69000.00}. These are links with scene shots from XXXX XXXX for XXXX and XXXX, and a letter sent to Experian. XXXX History from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX Experian Dispute - ( sent to Experian ) Please feel free to contact me directly at XXXX with any questions. I look forward to your resolution and restoration of my credit score. Many thanks,

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation