Consumer complaint received 2021-01-30
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: RI
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:
This past Fall I refinanced my VA Mortgage that has been held with XXXXXXXX XXXX. I reached out to XXXX in XXXX to inquire about VA IRRL options but settled on XXXX due to more competitive rates. I began receiving calls multiple times a week from XXXX in XXXX to try and get me to refinance with them as well. As those calls and voicemails continued through XXXX and XXXX I received two voicemails that my account was passed due. I contacted XXXX and was directed to the refinance team, who again was trying to sell me on a XXXX refinance and told me my loan was in good standing. I continued my refinance with XXXX XXXX and was scheduled to close in XXXX, but was delayed three times all the way to XX/XX/2020, due to XXXX XXXX being behind on closings. I continued to pay my current XXXXXXXX XXXX in the process to ensure no payments were missed in the transition. 

I was notified again by voicemail in early XXXX that I had a past due XXXX bill, which surprised me as I had seen my check to XXXX  for the month clear. I called them back on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that I had {$64.00} past due balance on my over $ XXXX monthly mortgage payment, based on a change to my escrow amount that I was previously unaware of. I sent payment that day which was received and cleared on XX/XX/XXXX. I inquired as to why my escrow payment was increased when I would be getting a check to close that account within a month. They wanted me to send them {$64.00} when they were going to turn around and send me a check for over {$2000.00} within a couple weeks since that account was in the process of being closed and no more payments would be made from it. I was told by the XXXX agent on the XXXX that this would not be reported to the credit agency. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I saw that my credit report showed a late payment to XXXX. I called and spoke with XXXX XXXX who said that the escrow was recalculated in XXXX and a notification was sent. He said he could see that notifications were sent again in XXXX but noted that he could see that they were returned. I believe those notices, just like my escrow refund check which was sent to me by XXXX in XXXX, was sent to the wrong address. 

I was in the midst of refinancing and XXXX had already sent out my payoff notification to XXXX XXXX and were actively trying to get me to refinance with them instead. The XXXX sales team and account management teams failed to share information and provided me incorrect information as a customer. They admitted to sending information about changes to my account to the wrong address. They should have halted any changes to the account once it was in progress of being sold. They reported a late payment to the credit reporting agencies, after saying they would not due so due to the confusion and are inaccurately reporting a late payment. My payment was never late, it was short by 1 %, {$32.00} on an over {$3200.00} payment and even then, the principal and interest were more than covered and my escrow balance had more than enough balance to cover all payments through the remainder of the loan. So much so, that I received over {$2000.00} back from XXXX to close that escrow account in less than a month.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation