Consumer complaint received 2022-04-05
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: WA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Old information reappears or never goes away

Complaint:
I first asked the CFPB to help me remove this same XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ) account two months ago in complaint XXXX. I alleged that Equifax since XXXX of XXXX has allowed XXXX to change the first date of delinquency and as a result reage the account. That complaint was forwarded to Equifax and they responded asking for more time to investigate and verify the incorrect information on my report for XXXX. THE CFPB closed the complaint and Equifax did nothing to remedy the incorrect information reported or its reaging of the XXXX  account. 

The account right now shows as closed on my Equifax credit report but it continues to contain negative information including a charge off and past due balance of over {$27000.00}. The first date of delinquency is listed as XX/XX/XXXX and it's this date that XXXX changed in XX/XX/XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX and its the heart of my reaging allegations against both Equifax and XXXX. I have attached 5 separate reports to this complaint. The first Equifax report is dated in XX/XX/XXXX and it shows the XX/XX/XXXX as the first delinquency date as being reported since it first appeared. Next is a XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Credit Report showing that in XX/XX/XXXX the XX/XX/XXXX date was first reported and there is no reference to the XX/XX/XXXX date. Next are three reports XXXX, XXXX and the latest report XX/XX/XXXX all showing the reaging and specifically that in XX/XX/XXXX the first date of delinquency changed from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. 

My last complaint also laid out the timeline as follows : My first missed payment was XX/XX/XXXX. I have my XXXX Bank statements and records showing auto payments made every month since the car lease started ending in XX/XX/XXXX. I've included those as well as attachments labeled XXXX. Due to a personal matter that coincided with that month I can assure you that no additional payments were made and the car was repossessed weeks later. 

It's well-established that late or missed payments, chargeoffs, and repossessions can remain on a consumers for seven years and that the seven years begins with date of first missed payment. Often times that date is unclear because there is incomplete or no records for the reporting agency to go by. That is not the case here as I have my XXXX XXXX  records and monthly statements from XXXX which show that my auto payments taken out each month on the XXXX stopped in XX/XX/XXXX and my first missed payment was XX/XX/XXXX. 

My credit report contained the first delinquency date of XX/XX/XXXX at all times over the past few years but that changed XXXX of XXXX which coincides with when I first reached out to Equifax on the account. Since XX/XX/XXXX the first date of delinquency has been listed incorrectly as XX/XX/XXXX ( the same date listed for the chargeoff and date of first major delinquency. ) The XX/XX/XXXX date has vanished and even though that date is incorrect based on my records which show my first missed payment was XX/XX/XXXX it would still be more than seven years old if the reaging didn't occur. 

After receiving the most recent report from Equifax verifying the incorrect info once again, I called XXXX and spoke to three employees in their collections department on XX/XX/XXXX. None of the employees could tell me when my last payment was which only matters because I learned that their system didn't contain that information or when my first missed payment occurred, the balances on any date, or what my monthly payment was any of the months that I leased the car in question. They didn't try to deny their inability to verify anything substantive relative to my account since they had a new system and the system didn't go back that far. Their system only indicated for my account a charge off date of XX/XX/XXXX. The most senior of the three employees told me that this date was all that mattered since my date of delinquency is the same as the charge off date. He incorrectly told me that I was wrong in believing that the seven years that negative information can remain on my account begins on the first miss payment date and even though he has no way of knowing when my first missed payment occurred its not relevant anyway. 
In short, XXXX employees confirmed what I have known all along. Equifax can verify my name and the account with XXXX but that is all they can verify. In all my letters and all my calls and the prior CFPB complaint I've consistently said the account is old and must be removed and provided them with the records showing my first payment date correctly being XX/XX/XXXX. Their reinvestigations are a farce. If they do exist they are ineffective since XXXX admits they do not know when my first missed payment occured. The reaging is evident with the documents showing the date change from XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. 
I have filed six disputes with Equifax on this account and written them more than 10 letters and called them over 30 times on this account. I have told them about a small business loan of mine that has been denied and that I was forced to move apartments when the property management company started using Equifax as a credit bureau of choice. I have over XXXX credit score with XXXX and XXXX but much lower on Equifax. The amount of effort and time I've spent on this is extraordinary all an attempt to have something removed by the only entity they can remove it but yet it remains This XXXX account and the XXXX student loan account that are both over 7 years old are the only two derogatory accounts to my name.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation