Consumer complaint received 2020-11-28
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: VA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
I've had a mortgage with XXXX XXXX XXXX and have faithfully made all payments on time, ever late and never missed a payment. Around XX/XX/XXXX I was contacted by a XXXX  XXXX XXXX representative who informed me that the XXXX XXXX County Tax Department to which I paid the annual real estate taxes on time every year had reported to the bank that the XXXX and XXXX taxes were unpaid. I provided the bank proofs the real estate taxes paid to the XXXX XXXX county tax department on time for both years. Around XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX contacted me again and claimed it had made a second payment to the XXXX XXXX County Tax Department and that tax department refused to refund the amount of over {$3000.00}. The bank then demanded that I must personally refund that amount. I refused to pay the taxes a second time having proven that I had previously made payments for both years on time. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I was blocked from submitting the monthly mortgage payments online and I submitted each payment on time via certified mail in order to verify timely delivery. The bank maliciously misfiled each payment received by mail and reported to the credit bureaus that I had either missed, or made the payments late. I was in contact with the credit bureaus and the bank each month during that period and the bank reassured me that all such derogatory discrepancies would be corrected and removed from the credit bureaus. However, the bank failed to correct the discrepancy for XX/XX/XXXX which it reported to the credit bureaus as a missed payment and has refused several requests to correct its record and my credit report. I have provided the bank and the credit bureaus with a copy of canceled check stamped " Received '' by XXXX  XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and the amount {$850.00} withdrawn from my checking account that same day. In early XXXX I contacted XXXX  XXXX XXXX and the customer service representative acknowledged that that payment was received on time, but was incorrectly filed under escrow instead of being filed as the mortgage payment. I was again reassured the record would have been corrected then. 
The property was sold with the bank 's approval via a short sale contract around late XX/XX/XXXX and initially scheduled to XX/XX/XXXX. I made a monthly payment to the bank for XX/XX/XXXX and scheduled a payment for XX/XX/XXXX. The bank employee and short sale representative advised me to cancel the XXXX payment because I no longer owned the property and, therefore, no longer required to make anymore payment. The transaction effectively closed in XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX reported to the XXXX XXXX credit bureau that my last payment was received in XXXX and that I was over 60 days late even though I no longer own the property. I contacted both the bank and the credit bureaus and requested for all discrepancies to be corrected. The credit bureaus claimed that the bank verified all information to be correct and added that these inaccuracies must remain for seven years before they can be removed. 
Prior to XX/XX/XXXX my credit score was XXXX, and has fallen by more than XXXX  points since XXXX  XXXX XXXX has reported these grossly inaccurate statements and refused to have them corrected. As a XXXX veteran with limited fixed income this malicious reporting by XXXX  XXXX XXXX is making a tremendous detrimental impact on my ability to survive additional financial constraints on insurance and housing. Prior to XX/XX/XXXX my credit score was XXXX, and has fallen by more than 100  points since XXXX  XXXX XXXX has reported these grossly inaccurate statements and refused to have them corrected I will furnish pertinent documents upon request,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation