Consumer complaint received 2023-02-10
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
At the very beginning of our Mortgage loan, while my wife was on the phone with XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) Representative, she was helping my wife set up the account and enter our banking information so that we could process our mortgage payments. At that point the account number that was entered by the representative was missing the final digit. This caused our first payment to be returned on XX/XX/2022 ( XXXX days after we initiated the payment ). We were able to catch it in time and also were able to correct the account number online. At that time My wife initiated another payment in the system on XX/XX/2022. That payment went through and was credited properly to my account. The company also did not assess a late fee for this transaction as they recognized that the clerical error had been on their part. 
In XXXX, my wife initiated the payment on XX/XX/2022, however the payment account had defaulted back to the bad account number entered into the system by their service rep. By the time we realized that the payment had been returned it was the beginning of XXXX and our payment was already 30 days past due. As soon as we realized there was an issue, my wife made the payment on XX/XX/2022. Part of the reason she was unaware of this issue was that when you initiate a payment through XXXX  payment portal online the screen says Payment Confirmation at the top. ( Picture attached ). By this we assumed that our payment had gone through. 
We have disputed these facts, the fact that it is not due to lack of funds or refusal to pay, it was simply a clerical error on the part of the company ( which they now deny ) to both the XXXX major credit bureaus and also with the company directly. 
The late payment has been removed from my wife 's Equifax report, but it has remained on her XXXX and XXXX as well as remained on my XXXX credit reports. Most recently when I was on the phone with the Credit Bureaus, they told me to contact XXXX directly. When my wife did that, the supervisor that she ended up speaking to said that it had all been cleared up on their end and that it should have been removed back in XXXX. However, in a subsequent call they contradicted this supervisor and said that they can not remove the 30 day late reporting because it shows in their system that my wife is the one who entered the account number incorrectly. She did in fact enter the correct account number after we realized that the rep had originally entered the account number but had omitted the final digit. Now Im left to wonder if this is the account number that their system shows that my wife entered.

Recently my wife and I got denied for refinancing our car loan to a much better interest rate and the bank cited this late payment as one of the main reasons we were denied credit. We have been working desperately since XXXX to recover from some delinquencies and derrogatories on our credit report and are simply trying to build our credit. This is really hurting our progress and holding our family back. Had we been approved for the car refinance the payment would have gone down over {$100.00} a month, which would provide us with some needed relief. All we are asking is that the 30 day late is removed, we have made every payment before and since and this is a simple clerical error that should be understood as a reason to remove this negative item from our credit reports once we brought it to their attention. 

A recent check of my wife 's credit report shows a 30-day late in XXXX of Last year on XXXX, but in XXXX on XXXX. 

A recent check of my 3 reports shows it's late in XXXX on XXXX, in XXXX on XXXX, and in XXXX on Equifax. None if this information coincides and needs to be removed. 

After hours of time on the phone and trying to get this company to help us out, we turned to the CFPB for help. Please help!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation