Consumer complaint received 2020-08-25
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: DE
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:
On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I learned from my XXXX score monitoring service that my XXXX credit report was showing a missed payment on my PNC Bank Cash Rewards Credit Card account. Given that I've had this account on autopay since early XXXX, this struck me as odd so I logged in to investigate. Sure enough, a payment of my {$11.00} XXXX bill that was supposed to have been made automatically in XXXX had not in fact been made as scheduled. ( At this point, I made the payment immediately to prevent any further damage to my score, which had already dropped approximately 75 points due to this single issue ). 

As this was the first time in my entire life ( ~12+ years of flawless credit history with thousands of on-time payments across more than 20 credit, auto, and mortgage accounts ) that any of my accounts had ever shown a late payment, I was, I think pretty understandably, dismayed by this unexpected news. 

My first call was to PNC to resolve what I assumed would be a routine complaint for them. Surely I'm not the first person to be unintentionally victimized by a faulty algorithm in a bank 's payment or reporting processes. But to my surprise and consternation, my initial polite request was met with denial and resistance. After telling my story to I think 3 different people over the course of about an hour, I was finally told by someone in their credit card customer service department that there was nothing they could do to help me and that I would have to take it up with XXXX. 

I found this unsatisfactory, but I followed their suggestion and filed a dispute with XXXX, which my email history confirms was officially opened on XX/XX/XXXX. Following XXXX XXXX  review of the pertinent information, the dispute was resolved in my favor and my XXXX   credit history and file were corrected to show all payments made on time for my PNC account. I considered the matter closed at this time, and didn't think about it at all for the next several weeks. 

Alas, a happy ending was not in the cards, as I was once again greeted by a missed payment notification, this time from XXXX XXXX, on or about XX/XX/XXXX. This time, the problem was showing up on both my XXXX and XXXX reports. It is unclear to me why PNC 's reporting to these other 2 bureaus would be delayed by roughly 2 months compared to their reporting to XXXX, but once again my first call was to PNC to again request their assistance in resolving this matter. 

Surely, I thought, with the XXXX dispute resolution in my favor to bolster my case and substantiate their error, this time would be different. But of course I was wrong. My pleas for assistance were once again met with denial and indifference. I was told, by several representatives across different lines of business, that my issue was mine and mine alone, that I would have to take it up with the bureaus, and that PNC had no ability to proactively correct their reporting of my payment history to either bureau. 

At this point, I felt it necessary to escalate my complaint, and so I requested to be put in touch with their executive customer dispute resolution team. On the bright side, I did receive a call later that afternoon from someone at PNC who offered to look more closely into my issue, but ( spoiler alert ) this slightly heightened level of presumably feigned concern would ultimately lead to the exact same outcome as before. 

Following this person 's approximately 3-week long review of my case, I was told on I believe XX/XX/XXXX, for the third time and in no uncertain terms, that this was my problem and mine alone. PNC could not and would not help, and I would have to take it up with the bureaus if I wanted to achieve any sort of resolution. I was also told, in direct contradiction of my own experience and of the information reported sequentially to all 3 credit bureaus, that PNC had no record of any missed payment on any of my accounts. ( I found this puzzling and am still not sure why they changed their story, after my previous conversations with their representatives had clearly reflected an understanding on their part that the interest charges on my account and the information reported to the bureaus did indeed reflect a missed/late payment. Why would they all of a sudden act like there was never any issue in the first place, when they had repeatedly acknowledged the issue previously? ) My patience exhausted, I pulled the last remaining arrow from my quiver and threatened the prompt filing of complaints with the XXXX and CFPB, the sending of strongly worded letters to my congresspeople and senators, and the last-resort possibility of pursuing litigation to force them to reckon with their disgusting indifference to their customers ' very real and valid concerns. 

Even this could not sway them to action. I was instead given the number for an individual who was supposedly even higher up on the customer service food chain, and instructed to leave a voicemail for this person. Well, I called the number, and I left the voicemail, and I haven't heard back since. 

After another roughly 3 weeks of waiting patiently for this person and/or their team to ride to my rescue and stave off what is sure to be a headache-inducing flurry of complaints and correspondence to the various agencies and individuals outlined above, I have resigned myself to the reality that they are simply not interested in providing any type of assistance whatsoever. I guess they probably hoped I would get tired/bored/frustrated enough with their callousness that I would just go away. 

Unfortunately for them, I'm a persistent XXXX and I will not stand for shoddy, careless treatment of customers by financial institutions, especially when that customer is me. So today I am making good on my threat to initiate formal complaints via all available regulatory and legislative channels. 

Any assistance you may be able to offer in effecting a swift resolution to this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation