Consumer complaint received 2019-12-18
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY
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: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
RE : XXXX XXXX Account Credit Card XXXX CARD ENDING IN XXXX I am a XXXX card holder since XXXX. I had an issue with my XXXX credit card back in XXXX that I have been trying to fix my credit report errors by disputing the information through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, all three credit bureaus, and over the phone, in person and online with XXXX with no result. My XXXX account history is currently showing a series of late payments and it shows as a charged off account. I disagree with the history of late payments and the current charge off status reported and I request that my account shows paid and closed with no late payment history or charge off status. This errors on my personal record are limiting and preventing me from renting apartments and applying for credit cards and mortgage. 

The reasons why I request this change are simplified in the attached timeline diagram : 1 ) This account should have been closed on XX/XX/XXXX when I went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  branch and authorized customer service agent XXXX XXXX to use money from my savings account to pay the remaining balance in full for this credit card and close it. I believe that if this request was handled correctly, I would not have been able to make any further charges to the account. However, I am not disputing the charges occurred after the account was closed. In fact, those charges are paid now. 

2 ) After my account was closed and I received a letter from XXXX indicating that I had a balance remained that need to be paid off. I promptly attempted to make payments through online, in person visits, and over the phone MULTIPLE times soon as I received the notice. However, all the branches that I personally visited indicated that they DID NOT SEE ANY remaining balance and started that that THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN CLOSED AND IS IN GOOD STANDING and that I did not need to make a payment. I was adviced by XXXX employees at different departments at different times that this notification letters I received could be scams. This multiple visits and phone calls should have been documented in the account by the XXXX team, but they refused to release them to me per requested. 

3 ) As you can see in my payment history, I have always made timely payments and I NEVER had a single late payment prior or after this event. This was a unique and unfortunate chain of events started with a single missed payment which was caused by the mistake made by XXXX employee who overpaid my credit card and thus was kept the credit card alive while it was supposedly paid in full and closed as I requested and was promised. Since then, I have received notifications on the remaining balance and have the ability and have physically called, login online, and visited a brand to make a payment but no payment option was made available to me the ENTIRE time, because the employee of XXXX could NOT access records that showed such remaining balance. I am and was at the time financially capable to have made those payments if given the chance. In fact, while this issue was happening I owned a XXXX checking and savings account with a balance of over {$15000.00}. 

4 ) A total of over 40 hours of my life have spent in disputing this error that incorrectly reflect my qualification as a consumer on my credit reports. Attached are my emails with information regarding all the visits and phone calls I made to try to address this issue. Furthermore, As a result of this inaccurate reporting, XXXX  XXXX XXXX closed my credit card with them due to serious delinquency and the only issue I have ever had was with XXXX. I was not able to rent apartments or obtaining a place to live because of this history. I was denied the possibilities of opening new credit card or opening a new bank account with different banks because of this history. My ability to get loans, mortgage, or housing are limited and my credit score was lowered significantly because of this error. 

In the latest complaint filed with all three Credit Bureaus, my case was denied of any updates on my credit reports. XXXX stated in their response letter they claimed there were notifications sent to me to alert me with past due payments. However, I am not disputing that I did receive the letter in the mail. I am disputing that per receiving those notifications I personally went to XXXX  with XXXX XXXX who can be my witness over multiple times, I called XXXX from overseas in attempts to make payments, but I was denied the need and the opportunity to do so because XXXX employees in the physical branch and over the phone did not see any records of remaining balance needed to be paid. Therefore, their response to my complaint filed was irrelevant to my dispute. 

ALL THREE CREDIT BUREAUS have the obligation of reporting ACCURATE information and of removing any inaccurate information from my credit reports under law. I ask you to do a thorough investigation and make sure a fairly and accurately credit history reflects my true characteristics as responsible individual. I request that my XXXX  XXXX  credit card account shows paid and closed with no late payment history or charge off status, and that this information is updated in my three credit reports as soon as possible.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation