Consumer complaint received 2019-03-27
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: LA
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:
On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, my husband contacted XXXX XXXX to find out why they hit his credit report as being more than 30 days late for both the month of XXXX and XXXX of XXXX for our mortgage. During XXXX we were selling our home in Hawaii. The payment was made for each and every month on time and the company was paid in full for our loan in the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX. Below is the email he sent to their customer service department : I got a credit report that stated that I was delinquent on my payment. It is now a hit on my credit. This was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. The issue I have with this is that we sold the property in question and it was finalized on XX/XX/XXXX. When I called to ask about it, I was told since you are no longer servicing the loan, I have to email to get answers about it. If you are no longer servicing the loan, why was it reported as delinquent? I was also told that it could take up to 5 days before I get an email response, and that is even more time where this negative hit on my credit stays. I need to have this corrected as soon as possible. 

My name is XXXX. The property in question is XXXX. 


My husband never received a response to his inquiry. On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I also contacted XXXX regarding the same issue for my own credit report. They directed me to submit an email through their customer service ( XXXX ). Below is the email I submitted : To whom it may concern, Account # : Our Names : Property Address : I had received a letter in the mail stating that my mortgage company had sold our mortgage to another company. In this letter it stated if we were doing automatic withdraws, there was nothing we needed to do on our part. At the same time, my husband and I were in the process of selling this home as I am in the military and we had to XXXX  ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) to XXXX XXXX ( updated address included below ), and we could no longer afford the home. We continued paying our mortgage through automatic withdraws, but for some reason we now have derogatory or negative comments on our credit report. This is affecting our score and we are trying to gain a new home loan and are unable to. Attached is a picture saved in two different formats as I do not know which way you can or can not open it. If you could please fix this as far as our credit report is concerned, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time. 
Current address : V/R, My Name I received the following response from XXXX XXXX through their encryption secured portal on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : Upon review of the credit reporting submissions, it was determined that it is accurate. However, if you have credit reports reflecting information that you believe to be inaccurate, we respectfully recommend that you submit a dispute with the credit reporting agencies directly. In order to avoid adverse credit reporting, payment must be received by the last day of the month in which it is due. If a payment is not received within the specified time frame, XXXX may report the account as delinquent for that specified month. Please keep in mind, according to the terms of the original mortgage agreement, installments were due on the first day of each month, and if not received on or before that date, the account was contractually late. However, you had a grace period of fifteen ( 15 ) calendar days after the due date to remit your payment before late charges were assessed to the account. 


I replied back to this on the same day stating that I did not understand why we were still being reported as late as we had paid everything as already stated? I never received a response back from this request. When I went back into their secure portal to pull this particular email it was no longer available. I called XXXX XXXX to find out why I could no longer access this and was told that after 25 days it is considered expired and I can no longer access it. That being said, they can and I requested a copy to be sent to me. As of this correspondence, I have yet to receive it. I waited to receive a reply and on XX/XX/XXXX my husband and I contacted XXXX XXXX again and we were directed to send another email through their customer service and submit documents showing that we paid and that we were hit twice as the manager we talked to agreed we should not have been hit twice as they were paid on time in full in XXXX, regardless of what XXXX had to say. I submitted the following email on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : To whom it may concern, Per the conversation that was had over the phone, I am providing documents showing where your company hit my husband and my credit report two months in a row. I am also providing documentation showing that we paid our mortgage for the month of XXXX, when the money was pulled, and where it was sent to via banking statements. As it was an online payment, there is no address for where the money was sent to. In the banking statement for XXXX, I highlighted where it shows the money was pulled out. I am unsure what format you are able to open pictures so I have attached i in JPEG format and GIF File. The banking statement is in PDF format. Thank you so much for your help in this matter. 

My Name On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I received another reply from XXXX XXXX stating the following : Upon review of the account, on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX received payoff funds in the amount of {$410000.00}, and on the same day, the account was paid in full. Further examination of the account confirms the XX/XX/XXXX contractual installment was not remitted ; therefore, the account was 30 days delinquent at payoff. Please be advised, credit reporting is submitted in arrears, as such, credit reporting that was submitted on XX/XX/XXXX represents the account status for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. Upon review of the credit reporting submissions, it was determined that it is accurate. 
However, if you have credit reports reflecting information that you believe to be inaccurate, we respectfully request that you forward legible copies of the following so that it can be researched : front and back copies of cancelled checks, complete bank statements, and/or other documentation supporting your request. Upon receipt of these items, we will research the account and notify you in writing of the results. Please note that XXXX complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act by reporting payments as received. 


They also included several documents to include a document on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX that was sent on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX that was supposed to be in regards to my husbands inquiry from XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. This being said, my husband never received anything in the mail from XXXX and the reply in question was sent to my email and not my husbands. They also sent the letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX that states If your payments are being automatically drafted from your checking or savings account, this service will continue, thus confirming what I stated in my original email to them I had received a letter in the mail stating that my mortgage company had sold our mortgage to another company. In this letter it stated if we were doing automatic withdraws, there was nothing we needed to do on our part. Once receiving this, I sent them the following reply : As stated in the letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX and I have said in a previous email it states in the third paragraph, second sentence " If your payments are being automatically drafted from your checking or savings account, this service will continue ''. As you state in your latest reply we continued to pay to XXXX as that is what was we were told to do in the letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX. My husband and I never received a letter stating that we needed to change who our automatic withdraws need to be paid to. You also state that we have until the end of the month to pay our mortgage before being reported late. As noted in my bank account, in XXXX, we paid. XXXX you were paid in full and has been acknowledged by employees and managers within the XXXX customer service department. We were reported to the credit bureaus as delinquent for both months. Due to your lack to address the documents I have submitted and what you have sent me, along with your lack of responding to my request through your secure portal on XX/XX/XXXX stating that I did not understand why I am still being reported late for both XXXX and XXXX since you were paid in full, I am now submitting a complaint to the Consumer financial protection bureau. You have been most unhelpful. 

V/R, My Name I will upload all documents mentioned in this statement. I would also like CFPB to publish this description on consumerfinance.gov so that others can learn from my experience. I further allow them to take steps to remove personal information from this description but realize someone may still be able to identify me. I consent to publishing this description after CFPB has taken these steps. I do not know why, but I could not select the box stating all of this.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation