Consumer complaint received 2018-03-22
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: Investigation took more than 30 days

Complaint:
I was the primary signer on two business vehicles from XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). They were both XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) and due to a fraud in their emissions claims, the government forced XXXX to buy back the cars from consumers due to the major fraud and massive value drop of said vehicles. My company used two for servicing our customers and the main reason was that the XXXX models received " XXXX XXXX of the Year '' awards and all of that went out the window once news of XXXX cheating emissions came about. We were caught off guard and offered a settlement which entailed signing documents accepting a certain dollar amount to return the cars. Once I signed the documents with a local notary we took the cars off of auto payment because it was assumed by my company and myself that the cars were going to be dealt with and XXXX XXXX, who's parent company is XXXX XXXX XXXX, would be informed. Well, 2 months later the cars were still waiting in our lot for XXXX to pick up them up, we were not using the said cars as we were told it would possibly make them ineligible for returning at the dollar amount we signed for and accepted. Soon after I found out that I had been reported for being 60 days late on each vehicle and then were forced to pay the past due balances to avoid further late fees. Then, 3 months after legally signing the cars back to XXXX, we had to return the cars to a XXXX local dealer and then a settlement check was issued to XXXX XXXX from another department owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX, their XXXX Settlement Team. So it seemed that we overpaid on the vehicles we both longer could use but it turned out that XXXX XXXX ended up sending the overpaid balance in separate checks to me at a later date. This whole process was bizarre and not ever brought up as a possibility when we bought the cars originally. The XXXX Settlement Team did not indicate that we would need to keep making payments, nor can they produce the proof or signed documents that show that and insist that I should have kept the documents. The XXXX Settlement Team can not provide the original documents I signed and can not even send out communications whatsoever due to the legal aspect of the major lawsuit regarding the fraud. XXXX XXXX tells me that have nothing to do with XXXX XXXX XXXX other than being owned by them and using their name however, they repeatedly have transferred my calls to XXXX Customer Care to help me. XXXX XXXX says that all I need to do to fix this is have XXXX Customer Care or the XXXX Settlement Team to send a letter saying I was not informed that I needed to make payments on a car I couldn't use which I already agreed to a dollar amount to return. The problem with this is that, as I stated, the XXXX Team is barred from sending outbound communications, such as letters or emails, and the three departments, XXXX XXXX, Customer Care, And XXXX XXXX, all owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX, can not share or see each other 's notes. When they try to call each other on my behalf, which happened at least 3 times, the hold time was so significant that they just tell me they can't hold any longer and that I am just out of luck. The Customer Care department learned that the XXXX Team can't talk about the XXXX settlement issues so they took the same stance and refused to speak with me further about anything XXXX related. I am uploading their " stance letter '' to show how uncooperative they are. I can sum this up by saying I was sold two cars that became unusable and then was mislead by 3 departments within XXXX of XXXX and now, due to their legal issues, am barred from getting any support. I have been swept under the rug and my credit suffers because of this and I don't think it falls under the " fair '' credit reporting act because it's such an unforseen issue with XXXX XXXX and XXXX Customer Care claiming they only share a name and the documents I signed were with the XXXX Settlement Team and not with either of them but the XXXX Team and them are all owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX. There is no way to reach XXXX of XXXX ... Only XXXX Customer Care who, as the uploaded letter proves, could help me but won't for legal reasons. XXXX XXXX holds their stance that my payments were late and refused to look at the big picture. The cars were paid via auto payment every month on time, as everything else on my report, until we were told otherwise by what seemed to be the same company ... And technically it was the same company regardless of how they are managed because they are indeed all three owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation