Consumer complaint received 2023-11-02
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I took out a second Mortgage on our home from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in the amount of {$15000.00} ( account # XXXX ) as we were having financial difficulty due to XXXX. My wifes XXXX  son who is a XXXX  lost his job due to the closing of the company he was working for d/t the government lockdown due to COVIG. We was helping him pay his bills as things got overwhelmingly financially difficult. Subsequently, we got behind on our loan with XXXX XXXX. We even had to let our one of our vehicles go because the loan company was not willing to work with us financially. I told them that they could take the vehicle as I was unable to pay while helping my son in addition to my bills. We were dealing a lot with my son, taking care of him as his XXXX  was not able to go to his home to take care of him due to the virus. My wife and I had to go over to his home daily to take care of him XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX It was just a difficult time. 
In the meantime, XXXX XXXX took us to court, but we could not go due to a family emergency. I then received papers in the mail from XXXX XXXX that they were starting foreclosure proceedings. We called XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX. My wife and I spoke with her over a speaker phone, and we all were talking about a payment arrangement because I did NOT want to lose my home of 14 years. She verbally said she would knock off the interest and the late fees. Prior to that in XXXX, I spoke to a female representative in the collection Dept, I believe her name was XXXX. She said that she was willing to take off of the interest and late fees back in XXXX. On that call on XX/XX/XXXX, to XXXX XXXX, we re-entered a payment agreement with XXXX XXXX during that phone call stating that we would make a {$1000.00} payment that day in cash which we did and $ XXXX thereafter. 
We started making payments on XX/XX/XXXX, of {$1000.00} in cash to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The bank teller gave me a receipt with the beginning balance ( {$15000.00} ) and the ending balance ( {$14000.00} ). The second payment was {$500.00} in cash and they gave me a receipt with a beginning balance of ( {$14000.00} ) and an ending balance of ( {$14000.00} ), but they told me that day that they would not accept cash from me anymore. I told the bank clerk that I have been making payments in cash and she responded to me that they were instructed by their boss to no longer take cash payments from me. The third payment I took in a check, and I asked for a receipt printed with the balance on it and she said she was instructed by her boss to NOT give me any printed receipts with balances or payoff balances. That sounded crazy to me like they were up to something NOT RIGHT, something fishy like hiding things. Thats what you do when you go to a store, you pay for something, and you get a receipt with the current balance to the ending balance. We need this for our records. The fourth payment, I took in I took a check in and they were not going to give me a printed receipt, so they gave me a hand written receipt with no balances on it. I sent the next payment through my XXXX XXXX XXXX Bank Account through my Bill Payment system so I could at least have a printed receipt from my bank. They refused the payment and sent it back to me. They said I had to send in a personal check only and that is only what they will accept. 
We knew something was wrong with how they were being sneaky about everything. First, they dont accept cash, but they did at the beginning with a beginning and ending balances on the first 2 receipts ( I have attached all receipts ). Then they refused Bill Pay payments from my bank, they sent it back to me. Now they will only take a personal check and give me a handwritten receipt with NO beginning and ending balances. We have continued to pay as agreed $ XXXX and have all of the cleared checks, but no balances. I have calculated that we owe {$8500.00} left on the loan. 
Then, we checked our credit reports with all 3 major reporting bureaus ( Equifax, XXXX XXXX XXXX ). Each report had different amounts owed, high balance, date opened, Balance owed, Closed date, Dispute status, Last payment, payment amounts and term length. I am attaching both mine and my wifes XXXX credit reports from XXXX XXXX which shows all 3 credit bureaus alongside each other and how they are reporting. There are so many errors, inconsistencies and inaccurate data. This is a violation of the FCRA 15 U.S.C. 1861 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( A ) ; Section 611 ( a ) plainly states that a failure to investigate these items that are inaccurate on a credit report within 30 days should be deleted promptly.

We sent disputes to all 3 credit bureaus, and they did NOTHING. They said it was accurate the same day we put the dispute in. Then we present the disputes to all 3 credit bureaus with proof of all the inconsistencies and receipts with all the payments documented, letters from SSCU that we entered back into repayment and a letter from the courts dismissing the foreclosure. They still did not do anything. We have proof and have sent all the documents again to all 3 credit bureaus. They said they did a re-investigation, but they did not. Because the day we sent in the disputes they sent back the results of the re-investigation on the same day. There is no way they completed an investigation, much less a re-investigation. They are breaking the law and violating my wifes and my legal rights.

Then my wife ended up getting Legal Aid because she is XXXX and has a low income. The attorney that we are working with at Legal Aid is from XXXX Ohio and he sent a letter to XXXX XXXX requesting an itemized statement of account for our second mortgage loan. They provided their copy of the itemized loan, but it had the interest listed on it that XXXX XXXX verbally entered into an agreement with us to remove the interest and late fees. They sent him something totally different than what they sent us. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX is violating our rights under the FCRA 15 U.S.C. 1681 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( A ) which states they are required to delete this inaccurate information on our credit reports, and it plainly states that a failure to investigate these items within 30 days gives a reason to immediately remove those items from our credit report. The balance and payments are reporting inaccurate and erroneous still.

We previously disputed this account on 7-10 occasions with documentation of all our payments and receipts attached. We entered into a repayment agreement on XX/XX/XXXX, and XXXX XXXX agreed to dismiss the foreclosure. I restarted the repayment plan to XXXX XXXX as agreed on XX/XX/XXXX, and paid the agreed upon amount of {$1000.00} with a beginning balance documented on the receipt ( enclosed ) as {$15000.00} by XXXX XXXX XXXX. After the first {$1000.00} payment, the ending balance was documented as {$14000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, the beginning balance was {$14000.00} and I made a payment of {$500.00} with the ending balance documented on the receipt as {$14.00}, XXXX ( enclosed ). The subsequent {$500.00} monthly payments were made, and I have previously uploaded all payment receipts to the credit bureaus dispute sites. The ACCURATE balance due currently is {$8500.00}. XXXX XXXX XXXX has our balance as {$13000.00} which is inaccurate. Another erroneous reporting is in the payment history is XX/XX/XXXX ( 30 days late ), XX/XX/XXXX ( 60 days late ), XX/XX/XXXX ( 90 days late ), XX/XX/XXXX ( 120 days late ) and XX/XX/XXXX ( 120 days late ). There is NO WAY that this account can be 120 days late 2 months in a row. It shows 120 days late in both XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. This account is listed on my credit report as a Collection/Charge off in addition to a Profit & Loss write-off. It is NOT a charge off or a Profit & Loss Write-off as we have documentation that we are enclosing that we have re-entered a payment agreement as of XX/XX/XXXX, and monthly thereafter. All receipts are enclosed. This is just another error that is not being addressed by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
XXXX XXXX continues to report inaccurate balances and payments. They are violating the FCRA, specifically 15 U.S.C. 1681 Section 611 ( a ) which states that a failure to investigate disputed items within 30 days gives reason to immediately remove those items from my credit report. We have disputed multiple times and requested reinvestigations with all three major credit bureaus. This is negatively affecting our credit score and causing us mental, psychological & emotional distress. In addition, these errors are costing us money at higher rates. We have attempted to get several home equity loans and lines of credit to pursue housing and were denied because of the illegal reporting of negative errors on our credit reports. My wife has not been able to obtain housing because of this. It is affecting my wifes ability to obtain housing assistance through her low income and XXXX rating. This is illegal and they are breaking the law. Since they have all refused to investigate and re-investigate our disputes and update our credit reports to show 100 % accuracy, I am filing this complaint with the CFPB to assist us in having XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account removed from all three of our credit bureau reports. We have {$150000.00} in equity on our home and have attempted to refinance for fixing the home for sale and paying off XXXX XXXX ; however, since they are reporting inaccurately, we are unable to obtain financing for HOUSING due to the errors XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX report to all 3 major credit reports.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief