Consumer complaint received 2019-12-10
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX
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:
I listed my house for sale ( in XXXX, Texas ) in XX/XX/XXXX. I had a buyer lined up by the end of XX/XX/XXXX, and the Title Company requested a payoff letter from XXXX, my mortgage holder. XXXX submitted a payoff letter to the XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX which was good through XX/XX/XXXX ( please see attachment ). The sale closed on XX/XX/XXXX ( please see attachment ), and the certified check was sent to XXXX in the amount that they had requested. XXXX cashed the check and released its lean, because the mortgage was paid in full. 
Approximately 3 months later, I received a bill from XXXX which looked exactly like my old mortgage statement, except that it had taken the payoff that was tendered by the XXXX XXXX and had applied it to the mortgage as a multitude of prepayments into the future. The statement showed a balance of just under {$1500.00} after all these " prepayments '' were applied, due sometime in XX/XX/XXXX. Then a week or so later, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a bill saying that the approximately {$1500.00} was due immediately, and the statement showed that I had paid {$140000.00} that year in payments toward the mortgage ( please see attachment ). I sent these bills to the Title Company, and the Title Officer, XXXX XXXX, said she'd handle it. A week or so later she called me and said that XXXX is crazy, and she can't get anywhere with them. 
XXXX started calling my phone a dozen times a day, and after several conversations with various representatives who had no clue what was going on, I finally filed a Texas State complaint against XXXX ( please see attachment ). In their lengthy response, XXXX admitted that the approximately {$1500.00} that they were claiming had come from their insurance department, which had placed force-placed insurance on the house effective XX/XX/XXXX, eleven ( 11 ) days before closing. In their response they included a letter to me, requesting proof of insurance, which was addressed to my old XXXX address, which I had updated to a XXXX address some eight ( 8 ) months prior. That letter was requesting proof of insurance, but I never received it. On XX/XX/XXXX, I actually had two insurance policies covering the house in question, and XXXX was the beneficiary of each. The force-placed insurance from XXXX was actually a third policy in place on the property. 
Error on the part of XXXX caused XXXX to put force-placed insurance on the XXXX house that I sold 10 days later, and then it took XXXX nearly a year of investigating to figure out why their billing didn't match. I should not be responsible for that cost. Furthermore that cost should not have been anywhere near {$1500.00}, as the force-placed insurance would only be in effect for 10 days. 
The XXXX response to my complaint made me fully aware that I was going to get nowhere with them. I threatened XXXX with a lawsuit in order to make them refrain putting anything on my credit report, and they did not ; they did, however, continue with the bills and the harassing phone calls. In XX/XX/XXXX, some two ( 2 ) years after the house was sold and the lien was released, XXXX sold the unfounded and baseless " mortgage '' to XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX  started sending me bills, which were, at the time, up to almost {$4000.00}, because of the late fees, which continued to accrue. In XXXX of XXXX, XXXX homes sent me a demand letter for over {$35000.00}. 
I sent a " Qualified Written Request '' to XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. Rather than respond, XXXX XXXX summarily released its lien ( which actually didn't even exist ) and charged off the account. The chargeoff went straight to my credit file with all three agencies, so now it looks as if I defaulted on my mortgage. In the summer of XX/XX/XXXX, I  bought my daughter a car and my credit was well over 700. When I found out that this was charged off, I joined XXXX XXXX, and it was at XXXX. I need to refinance my house, but I simply can not do it because of this. I disputed the charge-off, and my credit only went up to XXXX, because it now shows no mortgage history at all except for the XXXX XXXX mortgage ... they wiped all the XXXX history out, which was approximately 17 years of on-time mortgage payments. Now it looks as if I had only one mortgage, ever, for four ( 4 ) months, which was, inexplicably, 180 days late at the outset. Shortly after my dispute, XXXX  sent me an email that they concluded their investigation, and the charge-off was put back on the report. My credit dropped back down to about XXXX. All my credit reports now show that I have only ever had the one mortgage, from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, and the payment history iss " 180+ late '', " 180+ late '', " Chargeoff '', " Chargeoff ''. The XXXX history fromXX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX has completely disappeared. 
I have talked to several mortgage lenders, and they all agree that I'll never get a mortgage with this the way it is now, but nothing seems to work.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation