Consumer complaint received 2019-05-06
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: NY
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:
Hello, I'm writing because I'm concerned with the algorithm or metrics that Transunion, the crediting reporting bureau, is using to determine consumer credit scores. 

On XX/XX/2019 I was altered by a credit monitoring service that my Transunion score dropped 76 points. XXXX, the credit monitoring service, offered the explanation that this was probably due to an increase of {$76.00} to my student loan balance. 

I know that credit scores can be affected by increases on installment loan balances, but this seemed extreme. I called Transunion and spoke to two customer service representatives, one of which was a supervisor, and was frustrated after having to constantly re-explain what I was calling about. Then the supervisor basically told me there was nothing they could do and this was just how their algorithm works.  Despite the fact that my XXXX  and XXXX scores were not effected by this change and those scores remain at XXXX and XXXX respectively. 
I submitted a written complaint to Transunion through their website after making the phones calls ( and have attached that correspondence to this complaint as well ) but have not received a response from Transunion. 

Also of note is that my student loan is in good standing, set up in an income-based repayment plan, and on auto-pay. I also spoke to someone at my student loan servicer and they said that there was nothing negative reported to my account. 

So I'm writing to make an appeal to the CFPB that this credit bureau, and the other two at that, be held to a higher level of responsibility than they currently are. The credit scores they generate have a powerful effect on the individual lives of consumers. This drop in my Transunion score may affect my ability to get a mortgage as I'm currently in the process of getting approved to buy a home. And for a {$76.00} increase in one loan account? I don't think that that is right or at all a good practice. 
I don't know the details of how the algorithms work that these credit bureau use, but they should be changed if they're affecting peoples credit scores like the way they have affected mine. If a human being reviewed the change in my student loan balance would they have decided that I deserved a 76 point drop in my score, I would hope not. 

So I'm asking that with this great power the credit bureaus hold over our lives that they be held responsible to accurately evaluate persons credit scores. And if they are leaving that responsibility to a computer algorithm that is making huge errors, and they aren't employing human beings to review the decisions made by said algorithm, they shouldn't be allowed to have this power. Or they should be reprimanded and required to restructure their practices for consumer credit score reporting. 

I hope that you, at the CFPB, can make this change possible as this is what you were created to do, and I know that I'm not the only person being affected in such a negative way by the credit reporting bureaus. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

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