Consumer complaint received 2019-05-29
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NJ
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
I initially opened my relationship with XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I opened a brokerage Account because my former company closed it's operations. 
XXXX XXXX opened a brokerage Account and I transferred my securities to them. while opening this Account I was strongly pressed to also open a checking account and a credit card Account. this Account was called a XXXX Account and included 100 free trades in the brokerage Account. the checking Account was to be free of charge, and the credit card was also free of charge and had a reasonable interest rate. after some bad press the problems began. I started to notice that the checking Account was being charged a {$30.00} a month service fee. 
I closed that Account and requested a refund and was given 2 months credit. 
then came the withdrawal of the 100 free trades and the imposition of a {$30.00} yearly fee. they also added several new fees and charges, as well as account closing fees. terms of the credit card also changed. I closed the checking and credit card Account. 
I tolerated this situation for a few years and continued to use the brokerage Account. 
In XXXX of XXXX I was told that I had XXXX and needed to have them removed. I went to XXXX XXXX and had an exam. I was told that both eyes were to be done and that I would no longer need eyeglasses. I was told that the corrections would cost {$1900.00} per eye and the cost would be financed by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX card with no interest for 36 months. 
I was misled about the reason for the charges. I was never told that the charges were for an optional additional XXXX procedure. I believed it was a necessary part of the procedure. after the procedure I started the payments and continued until XX/XX/XXXX. I was having trouble with XXXX in my eyes and focusing was becoming difficult. when I called the eye doctor they immediately denied any responsibility for this problem and told me to see another doctor. I then called XXXX XXXX and questioned the quality of the service and stopped paying. 
in XXXX of XXXX I believe that XXXX XXXX failed to look into this problem. they never marked the charges as questionable or researched the problem. 
they reported the Account as delinquent to the credit bureaus. they continued to report this every month with an increasing amount and added late charges as well. as a result my credit scores plunged over 45 points and continued to decline as they continued to report this problem. this is a medical issue and should not have been reported to the bureaus until resolved. 
they continued to add late charges and they increased the apr. I tried to discuss this with them numerous times to no avail. they were very difficult to get in touch with. several people failed to look into this problem or take steps to resolve this. Then they sent an offer to settle the debt for around {$1500.00}. I am a retired XXXX senior citizen on a fixed income and could not afford it at that time. meanwhile they closed the Account but continued to report the delinquency every month. I have never missed a payment on my mortgage or other credit cards. in fact I have been using XXXX XXXX for over 45 years. I want to obtain a 2nd mortgage or equity line of credit to pay down additional debt and medical bills. I have been turned down by at least 5 banks, credit card companies, and personal finance companies because of their actions. I have over {$400000.00} of equity in my home that I need to access. 
I need for them to correct their reporting and restate the situation. this has caused major problems with my finances and will result in much higher interest rates wherever I turn. In addition, as a result of their actions my primary bank reduced my credit limit from {$14000.00} to {$2000.00}. this of course resulted in my credit utilization to soar to over 75 percent. 
nobody will offer me a loan that I desperately need.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation