Consumer complaint received 2021-12-13
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
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: Problem with personal statement of dispute

Complaint:
I have a credit card with XXXX bank. In XXXX of 2021 my card was used accidentally and I did not know about these charges until they were posted to my credit report as a delinquent payment in XXXX of 2021. At that time I contacted XXXX card services and asked how I could have the charges removed from my credit report, they told me to remove the charges the merchant would have to rescind the charge and issue a refund. I contacted the merchant and they did so. I then called XXXX bank again who told me they couldn't remove the delinquent charge bit since it was a mistake I could dispute it as fraudulent with them and it would be removed which I did. I waited for the result of that dispute and was never contacted, after the suggested time had passed I called the bank again and was told the dispute had been denied. I spoke to a supervisor who told me the charges had been removed from my account and that I should dispute with the credit agency. I did this through the XXXX XXXX app. The app told me to wait for XXXX days for results. I waited for XXXX days and heard nothing so I contacted equifax who told me that no dispute had been filed and disputes filed through XXXX XXXX are not legitimate disputes with the creditor. I then filed a dispute directly with equifax. I called them for the results and was told that they couldn't tell me if it was in my favor however if I wanted to I could file another. I did so. This process repeated XXXX times. I also filed XXXX disputes with XXXX. The last conversation I had with equifax the technician told me that their automated system told them that XXXX reported the delinquency to be legitimate. I called XXXX card supervisor line and spoke to a man named XXXX who assured me it was removed and suggested I give equifax his phone number so he could speak to his deptartment directly. I called equifax again who said they couldn't contact them directly but to ask for a letter stating that it had been removed to attach to the dispute. I called XXXX supervisor line on XXXX XX/XX/2021 and spoke to XXXX. He informed me that the only thing that had been removed was the fee associated with the late payment but that the delinquency could not be removed. I then recieved an email at XXXX, XXXX minutes after their office closed stating that my account was to be terminated for " inactivity '', " serious delinquency '' and " length of open credit accounts ''. I waited until today, Monday XX/XX/XXXX to call the same supervisor number and was told that I could appeal the decision to not remove the delinquency and should recieve a decision on that appeal soon. I was also told that the only reason for my account being terminated was inactivity, I was told that the system reviews accounts at random and comes to a decision about whether to terminate the account without informing the company or the consumer. Once the system makes the decision to terminate it can not be reversed. 

I have had open credit accounts for the last XXXX years. In that time I have never had a delinquent payment or derogatory mark posted to my credit report. The charge in question is for approximately {$20.00}. When this derogatory mark posted to my account my score dropped by XXXX points. It seems that no amount of recompense can stop XXXX bank from affecting my score in this way, furthermore their decision to close my account suddenly and without warning or recourse will further damage my score by bringing down my average open credit account time length. The timing of which seems to coincide with my calls to the XXXX department and disputes filed with the credit agencies.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation