Consumer complaint received 2018-05-12
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: GA
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid my mortgage payment on the website of XXXX XXXX. The due date was XX/XX/XXXX  with a grace period until XX/XX/XXXX. I pay my mortgage in this same fashion, via the website, every month always before the XXXX  of the month, 100 % of the time. I have no late payments on this account.

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX reversed the payment I made on XX/XX/XXXX. I was unaware that XXXX XXXX reversed this payment until XX/XX/XXXX when I received a letter via USPS from XXXX XXXX stating that they had " reversed '' this payment. When I received this letter, I immediately repaid my mortgage payment via the website and, again, it was accepted. I checked my bank account to make sure the funds were there wondering if the check had been returned by the bank. At this point, I was concerned that my bank account had been hacked and the money was not there. However, my bank account had more than sufficient funds to cover my mortgage payment, and this was not the issue.

I called XXXX XXXX on or about XX/XX/XXXX to inquire about why the payment was " reversed ''. According to XXXX XXXX they said I had posted the bank account number incorrectly. Since the website requires that the bank account number is posted twice for " confirmation '', I was skeptical about how I could have input the wrong account number two times. I use the same account each and every month to pay my mortgage and I have never had this problem before. However, I accepted the fact that this was possible. Additionally, the website " accepted '' my payment as it was initially inputted with two " wrong '' account numbers and I had no idea that there was a problem at the time of the payment. My experience has been that when I incorrectly input numbers to other websites for purchases using my credit card or bank information, the website notifies me immediately of the error.

I also inquired of XXXX XXXX regarding their notification to me regarding this reversed payment. They have my email address and they did not notify me immediately by email that an error had occurred. They claimed to have attempted to call me " several times '' but I had no record of any calls from them nor any messages left. In their defense, I have " XXXX XXXX '' on my XXXX   account which screens my calls for Telemarketers and Potential Scam calls. It is possible that XXXX XXXX could have been screened out of my calls due to being a " high volume caller '' however, I did not see any blocked or flagged calls. Hence, I was not informed about this situation until XX/XX/XXXX. When I spoke with XXXX XXXX regarding how this would be reported to the credit bureaus, they assured me that there was no " late '' payment posting.

Ironically, I was in the process of obtaining an equity mortgage on my home and happened to check my credit using the XXXX XXXX website service to make sure my credit was worthy for the best possible rate. XXXX XXXX reports scores from TransUnion and XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX   reported that my score with XXXX was XXXX and my score with TransUnion was XXXX.

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX XXXX which stated XXXX XXXX reported that I had " missed a payment ''. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX   reported a sudden and substantial drop in my credit score. According to XXXX XXXX, TransUnion reported my score as XXXX   and XXXX reported my score as XXXX, both drops occurring simultaneously. The sole difference in my credit report was that XXXX XXXX had reported to the credit bureaus that my mortgage was over 30 days late and I had missed a payment.

I called XXXX XXXX on or about XX/XX/XXXX and explained to them that I was assured this would not be posted as a late payment. I spoke with a woman in Customer Service who told me that I would have to send an email to their customer service department to correct this problem. I sent an email to their customer service department on XX/XX/XXXX. I also filed a dispute with TransUnion onXX/XX/XXXX but I did not file one with XXXX. This was purely ignorance on my part. I thought I was filing a dispute with all the bureaus through XXXX XXXX 's website.

When I did not hear anything back from XXXX XXXX I sent another email to them on XX/XX/XXXX. In this second email, after doing some investigating online, I realized that in my favor, XX/XX/XXXXonly has 28 days this year and " technically '' I paid my mortgage 29 days late if XX/XX/XXXX 2 counts as 1 day late. I made this argument to XXXX XXXX citing that it would be incorrect to report that my mortgage payment was " over 30 days late ''. I hated to have to resort to a " technicality '' but it was factual.

I was pleasantly surprised on XX/XX/XXXX to learn that my credit score with TransUnion was back up to XXXX  and XXXX reported my score as XXXX. This rapid rise in my credit score occurred on the same day with both credit reporting services. I found a USPS letter from XXXX XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX  stating after their review of my account, " we have retracted derogatory credit reported for the month of XX/XX/XXXX '' and they included an Automated Unit Data reference number to verify the update with the " four major credit bureaus ''.

Fortunately, I had not had time to apply for an equity mortgage because on XX/XX/XXXX, TransUnion updated my credit report with a score of XXXX. This was a devastating drop and I learned from the XXXX XXXX   website that TransUnion had posted results of the dispute I had previously filed with them on XX/XX/XXXX with the following statement. " TransUnion received your request on XX/XX/XXXX  and completed their investigation on XX/XX/XXXX. Please review the results carefully. '' There were NO results to review. This was the only statement posted on the website and the fact that they had revised my score to XXXX. XXXX XXXXa had sent me an email on XX/XX/XXXX to notify me of this " completed investigation ''.

I called TransUnion on or about XX/XX/XXXX to inquire the reason for this change. The TransUnion report on XXXX XXXX continued to reflect a " missed payment '' in XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with three different people regarding this issue. I had to ask for two different " supervisors '' and it was the third person with whom I spoke who said I had to contact XXXX XXXX because they were continuing to report this derogatory information for XX/XX/XXXX. This final " supervisor '' claimed that this was the report from XXXX XXXX despite the fact that my score had improved on XX/XX/XXXX and she had no response regarding the reason for this rise.

I called XXXX XXXX and spoke with a customer service representative who was very helpful. She assured me that they had removed the derogatory information and referred me to the letter they had sent. She told me that I could use the Automated Unit Data reference number with the application for a home equity mortgage and the creditor would be able to see that this information had been removed.

She also made a very astute observation in that she believes that even though TransUnion 's investigation completion was after the one completed by XXXX XXXX, it was probably based on information obtained before XX/XX/XXXX and was outdated. This makes more sense to me than anything. TransUnion 's investigation was based on outdated information and they reported it AFTER XXXX XXXX  had already corrected it on XX/XX/XXXX.

I have been patiently waiting for the corrected information to " catch-up '' with TransUnion. On XX/XX/XXXX, my TransUnion score rose to XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX my score rose to XXXX. I believe this is due to my paying down some credit card balances to improve my score for my mortgage application.

As of today, XX/XX/XXXX, TransUnion continues to report my XX/XX/XXXX payment with XXXX XXXX as 30-59 days late. They have no reporting of my XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX payments even though these payments are reflected on my XXXX  report. XXXX also continues to report my XX/XX/XXXX payment as on time and they report my current score at XXXX.

On XX/XX/XXXX, I filed another dispute with TransUnion to correct the misinformation. This time, however, I filed the dispute directly on the TransUnion website. I uploaded the letter from XXXX XXXX in my dispute complaint. I received a message when I filed this dispute on TransUnion 's website which said that my dispute required " manual processing ''. I did not know what this meant. I received an email from TransUnion confirming my new account with them but no email regarding the receipt of the dispute.

On XX/XX/XXXX, I checked TransUnion 's website signed in on my account and I found nothing in the dispute section. I called TransUnion again. This time the first two people I spoke with wanted me to file another dispute which I refused to do since I had already filed one the day before that required " manual processing ''. Obviously my fear is that another dispute will generate outdated information causing my credit report to reflect more misinformation.

I was finally transferred to a third " supervisor '' named XXXX in the " Special Handling '' department. After a third explanation of my history and problem in this case, I was finally able to get some action, or so I thought. XXXX  did not know what an AUD reference number was. She said she would have to contact XXXX XXXX herself and if XXXX XXXX would verify the removal of the derogatory information, she would remove it. She asked me to call XXXX XXXX and notify them that she would be calling and that I had given them permission to speak with her. I offered to send her a copy of the letter from XXXX XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX but she declined. She promised to call me by the end of the day after speaking with XXXX XXXX. She also verified that they had no record of the dispute I had filed the day before. I told her I was concerned because my personal information may be at risk.

When I hung up the phone from speaking with XXXX, I immediately called XXXX XXXX and spoke with XXXX ( I believe was her name ). She informed me that if TransUnion called she would call me with a three way call to give permission to speak with XXXX. I kept with phone with me for the next several hours but I never received another call either from XXXX or XXXX XXXX. I checked my XXXX  Call Protect and there were no blocked or flagged numbers.

Therefore, I am taking the next step and hope that SOMEONE can hold TransUnion accountable for their actions. I am unable to proceed with home renovations until I can apply for a home equity loan. In the meantime, interest rates are rising and I am going to be subjected to paying a higher interest loan with every delay. These are REAL damages I am suffering due to TransUnion 's inaction in correcting the misinformation on my credit report.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief