Consumer complaint received 2023-02-18
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: MD
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:
when I got this one it was online and I never met anyone in person. 
Everything is done online and by phone. XX/XX/XXXX I was notified that my account was seriously delinquent. The account was on the verge of being charged off and a court date for collection was going to be set. I called the manager and he told me if I paid the past due amount they would put in a stipulation and stop the court proceeding. I paid the past due amount and the court date was canceled. I was informed that I needed to make my payments on time every month in order to stay in good standing. I did exactly what they told me to do. I made my payments on time every month and I never needed to call in and report that I was going to be late. I made sure that I always had the payment on time. Recently. I have been looking for a mortgage. I have been informed that on my credit report XXXX XXXX has reported me late since XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX until I finally had enough of the abuse and paid the loan off in full. 
I called XXXX XXXX and they told me that I was not late that I was in good standing and they didn't know what I was talking about. I called probably 10 times and I got the same answer. No matter how I explained it to them, they would continue to tell me that there was nothing wrong with my account. I would help me get another loan as long as I paid this loan off in time. I finally found out that I was being reported late {$34.00} every month since XXXX of XXXX. Nobody at XXXX XXXX would tell me what this amount was. When I finally paid off the loan, the manager at the branch finally explain to me that the {$34.00} was the court fee that they had to pay. Told me I was responsible for paying it but they couldn't collect it from me until I paid off the loan. I explained to them that they have been reporting me late for the past 8 plus months {$34.00} and I don't understand how they can report me late if I haven't been charged {$34.00} on a statement and they have not attempted to collected it from me. Ultimately, the branch manager decided to wipe the {$34.00} off and I no longer owed it even though I was never told I needed to pay it. I didn't understand how you can report somebody late {$34.00} if you never inform them that they had to pay the {$34.00} several months down the road when you pay off your life after the life is expired. This has been a terrible situation for me. XXXX XXXX has cost me high insurance premiums, high interest rates on my credit cards and my loans The inability to get loans and the inability to good paying jobs. I believe that they should be fined for their lack of reporting accurate information. They treated me like XXXX and they never wanted to explain to me why I called the branch and not again and the customer service associate treated me the same way. Basically told me that whatever is on my credit report was because I didn't pay and if I paid on time it wouldn't be like that. This needs to be fixed right away. I am trying to buy a home and I need this off my credit report. Now. All three credit bureaus are reporting me as being {$34.00} late. It was a past 8 plus months and it is affecting me tremendously! I asked the manager several time for proof that I had paid on time and he kept sending me a printout from their internal computer system with no letterhead on it. The second time I made the complaint he sent me a letterhead with his name scratched on the front of it and then the same print out. This is not the proper information that I could provide to any loan company if I wanted to pay this loan off. They want to see information on a letterhead and this company did nothing but try to impede my ability to make my life better and they did it by preventing me from having the material I needed that prove that I was in good standing. I was so angry. I almost got a lawyer. I know they violated my fair debt reporting rights. Is their responsibility to report accurately and they failed to do so. I paid my loan off because I wanted to be done with them. They are a terrible company to do business with. They told me that if I wanted it fixed I had to get in my car and drive over to their office which I never met them before. I was supposed to give them a copy of my credit report because they could have pulled my credit anymore. I told them you should be reporting it accurately in the first place. Why do you need to look at to see what you're reporting.?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation