Consumer complaint received 2021-06-03
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: GA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
Hello! 

Hope this email finds you well. I am writing in regard to issues I have with my account, and I am in search of transparency, assistance and resolution. My student loan was deferred from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX XXXX my loan was actually deferred for various periods but this is the time period I have an issue with ). However when reviewing my credit file I noticed that my student loan payments were marked late every month from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX ( for a total of 11 late payments that appear on all of my credit reports - all three bureaus ). Aside from allowing students to defer a student loan payment for a specific period, a deferment should also protect borrowers ' credit rating while they are facing financial hardship or are in school. 

I have contacted XXXX several times regarding this matter and I keep getting the runaround. I was told by one of your reps to file a dispute with the credit bureaus, and when I filed the dispute, XXXX told the credit bureaus that the late payments were correct, even though my loans were in deferment - this is where the questionable business practices begin. I then contacted the office and asked for a letter that outlined my deferments, and received a letter that did not include all of my deferments - they ironically left off the years I was inquiring about. Then, I contacted the office and asked for a manager and was referred to XXXX XXXX who sent proprietary internal information ( screenshots from your database ) so that I could decipher my deferments on my own using a reference key that she provided ( see below email thread ). 

I am not sure what your best practices are but this is extremely frustrating to borrowers. It seems as if borrowers are penalized for deferring payments - this entire experience has discouraged me from taking advantage of something that is supposed to assist me in hardship because of the negative impact it is having on my credit worthiness. In many ways, these practices seem to be in violation of the Truth in Lending Act. During this pandemic, the last thing consumers need is to be penalized because they are facing hardship. 

I ask that XXXX correct the erroneous late payments ( 12 total ) for XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. These months should appear as paid on time per my approved deferment from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. Please be honest, and provide the credit bureaus with accurate information when they contact you, and remove the 11 incorrect late payments from my credit file. Attached to this letter I have included : -The attached screenshots from XXXX  -The letter from XXXX  -And the dispute letters from the three credit bureaus Please let me know if you need any additional information from me to assist in remedying this situation. Thank you!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation