Consumer complaint received 2023-06-26
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
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:
At my wits end, in XX/XX/2022 one of my credit card Cos submitted 5 late notices on my report in one day- having to do with 2-store credit cards- one on one card- and four late pays on another store card- I had not paid late- it was an error- they had issue with their auto-pay system. I disputed the late notices- to all bureaus- and it took me approx 3 weeks calling, writing company comenity bank- and finally the company removed all XXXX of late notices and fixed what they had done- I was desperate- in midst of my mortgage application process- and Their mistake dropped my credit score to a XXXX from an average of the 3-bureaus my average score was approx XXXX. It had taken me 10 years to get my score to a XXXX after years of frustrating low scores for apparently no reason I could ever find!. Prior to repair being made, during this XXXX weeks from reporting the late payments until it was fixed- two of my other store credit cards ( synchrony bank ) evidently was noticed of my score drop and unilaterally closed my two accounts- I notified them when mistake was fixed but they said I would have to re-apply to Re-open my accounts but my score was now still in the low XXXX, the creditor closing accts further dropped my score- I was under contract to sell my home and in midst of mortgage application, and could not jeopardize having a hard hit on my report. So, their closing my accts further dropped my credit score which never went back up to what it was prior to this reporting of 5-late payments. 
From that point, XXXX XXXX XXXX my score has bounced from the original over XXXX to XXXX back to XXXX high- back down to XXXX to XXXX up to XXXX back down to last week XXXX had my score at XXXX!! And although I have paid accounts for years with these bureaus, especially experian- creditors tell me that the score they pull is never the score experian has on their site, which I pay to monitor! 

I lost my first mortgage, which I had applied to when this catastrophic mistake was made to my repirt! Thank god I could buy my new house in cash or I would have defaulted, but money I used to buy my home was personal funds but also that I took from my biz- it was all committed elsewhere, my two businesses needs cash, NOW, desperately, I have been turned down for the mortgage I applied for a few months ago, and now for home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs- since XXXX repeatedly. I will lose my businesses, I will default other contracts if I cant mortgage my home and get my cash back out- - yet my credit score remains as of end of last week on experian- in the high XXXX!! I have ZERO negatives on my credit report, I paid my mortgage off in full when I sold my house, but paid timely for years- that should not cause a nearly XXXX point hit- just paying off my mortgage, should that not be a good thing? 
I use a couple small credit cards each month to pay bills- each one paid in full at end of every month- I carry no balances- but they have very low credit limits- all I ever needed so never applied for higher limits- so although I use nearly the max limit- they are only XXXX and {$2500.00} etc limits- I have had them for years and pay in full- every month- never late- I have two car loans- traded in one car for another in XXXX when my car died- but still have two car loans- and never late with payments- I have negligible debts compared to my assets/income- the credit bureaus say my credit percentage utilization percentage is high and that represents 30 % of score- so even if I lost the whole 30 % ~ my score considering low debt- high income and zero negatives reported- should not drive my score to the XXXX which literally renders me un-fit for a mortgage, or to be able to get funding needed to operate my companies- etc. 
All the Bureaus the 3 major ones, have told me my score will normalize in 45-60 days- but its been 6 months going on 7 ( seven ) and all companies I call ( to help fix my credit score ) tell me they cant help me, because nothing is wrong and there are no negative on my report to fix No advice they can give me, yet, XXXX has my score down to the XXXX still and the other two bureaus have my score XXXX! I cant live, get funding or a mortgage, I cant get higher limits on credit cards to fix my utilization score with these scores! I am 61 years of age, they also say my oldest acct is only 2 years old, but Ive paid 10 mortgages off in full, Ive used credit and have had good credit since I began working at 14 years of age, my first home mortgage I had at XXXX Ill be dead before I have an acct old enough- according to them- and there is literally nothing I can do to fix my credit score because there is nothing bad, and nothing wrong! How can this happen? I have struggled so much in the last 7-8 years to get my score higher, the only negatives ever posted in the last few years were all errors- only two that I can think of, both company errors that were immediately fixed when disputed- yet my score needs a miracle to be over XXXX! I have called credit law firms to ask their assistance, they tell me that unless there is a clear mistake they can sue over, they cant help me- - I have literally begged all XXXX bureaus to tell me what is wrong- what I can do to increase my score- they all respond that they cant give me financial advice- and that how scores are calculated is tricky My life depends on my credit score, like most people- I am writing you folks because I will Soon legally default on all my obligations- and I dont know where else to turn or what else to do to get my score to where it should be- because I have done nothing wrong and there is nothing else I can dispute- although when I traded in XXXX car for another in XXXX, there were nearly 10-12 hits on my inquiries that I had not authorized, same with the twice I applied for my mortgage- I disputed all these 23 hard inquiries reminding bureaus that when we shop rates when making major purchase, they can only be held against me once- if within the prescribed number of days from each hit- every bureau said that inquiries are straight factual accounting of an inquiry- and have refused to remove any even when handfuls were on same day for same car loan and same mortgage- and every report lists the number of inquiries as a contributing factor to my low score! Yet at car dealer when I switched vehicles and bought new, I instructed them I was only giving my permission for one hard it to my report- they agreed, but then 10 were run by finance Cos I never heard of nor gave permission for- in retrospect they had to do that since my score was so crazy low- due to what these bureaus are doing to my credit score in the past 6-7 months! So Im paying 12 % interest on my new car- and cant even get approved for a mortgage! I swear I literally can no longer take this constant battle with my credit score- if you can look at Experian- my score in their bureau alone has jumped from XXXX in XXXX down to XXXX up to XXXX and back down to XXXX - XXXX points up and down in just in the last four weeks! All yet with not XXXX negative, not XXXX late payment, If I use any of my credit cards for gas to fill My car- my score drops XXXX points! There is something so wrong here, it will ruin my life now, within days- because I will default another contract- what I do have in credit I am paying exorbitant interest on, because XXXX seen as such high risk- for years- yet nobody seems to be able to help me- or even to tell me why my credit score is doing what they are doing to it! 

Im trying not to be emotional, but I have literally come to the end of my rope- being able to handle this any longer- can someone there please help me or steer me to help?? Although calculating a credit score may in fact be tricky, it must be representative of a persons history of paying, assets, income, and when bad, must give a person some way to work to fix it! This has been going on years- but I will soon pay the ultimate price for this crazy system and what it has done to me, and remains doing right now!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation