Consumer complaint received 2020-08-31
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY
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:
Our mortgage company has been incorrectly stating and reporting that the account is delinquent since XX/XX/2020. 
I have tried to contact this company several times and keep getting their collection department. NOTE : I do not get anyone for a few weeks, however in late XXXX I spoke with someone. The person stated they can not help me and said hopefully the problem would be resolved, since we were then paid up. This problem has continued and keeps worsening. 
As of XX/XX/2020, our mortgage account was completely up to date on payments. Our State closed all businesses due to the Covid 19 World pandemic. New York declared a state of emergency, And the Federal government Made New York State A  Disaster area. ( XX/XX/2020 ) XXXX XXXX enacted a law protecting those effected by this happening. The government literally closed everything down and there was no income, and no businesses open. We could not return to work and had no financial options. 
The NYS and Federal law enacted during this time, to my understanding, stated, for any Mortgage company doing business in New York State, that any missed payments can NOT be reflected on the consumers credit history account, can not be held against the mortgage owners, and may Not be reported negatively to any credit agencies. It states that, if the account was up to date as of XX/XX/2020, of which this account was, delinquency can not be report to credit bureaus. A borrower has the entitled rights not to have their credit effected by this unprecedented disaster of which they had no control over. Mortgage borrowers had at least 90 days to make payments - again without any negative effect to their credit. If they exceeded 90 days, then the mortgage holder had to work with the owners for payments - yet again this situation was not to ever affect the borrower negatively. Literally, All Businesses in New York State, aside from essential, were closed, therefore any responsible lending in New York would know that this happening literally stopped any income for the majority of household. working at home was and is not an option for us. 
NOTE : This company never contacted us in any way, nor stated that they would be reporting to the credit agencies. No contact, no assistance, I only found out about this when I was going to apply for a loan to help us. 
This account was Completely paid up in XX/XX/2020 - way before the 90 days. ( This account is on automatic payment with our banking institution. ) My credit history was wrongfully marked, and at one point ( solely due to this mortgage ) I lost Over 230 points, due to this company 's reporting! 
To make matters worse, they have continually reported negatively on our account, even as the monthly payments have been made, on time, such as within agreement to the initial mortgage contract. And every month they state our balance increased-this is a set amount mortgage and they are reporting this oddly! There is no way our balance should ever increase, and Again this account is on automatic payment ... When we make payments-how can our balance go up? It's almost like when this company is preparing the monthly payment, it's sating the balance has gone up .... XXXX  Keeps reporting my balance is going up, and that is incorrect. 
NOW, for whatever reason, literally when this account is paid, my credit continues to go down. This is simply wrong and illegal. I do not understand why my credit is continually going down when payments are paid, and All my accounts are up to date and have been for many months! 
I request that my credit, and my husbands who is also on this account, have our credit corrected, and dated back to XX/XX/2020 so that his horrible credit nightmare is Not wrongfully held against me at all!! 
I would like to know why the credit bureaus decrease my credit monthly, when these accounts are not delinquent. (? ) Also, XXXX XXXX, has a comment on my credit report, decreasing my credit, citing that the principle on the mortgage did not go down enough? This needs to be corrected as well. When we make our payments, if they are the agreed to payments - credit company 's and bureaus can not sporadically decide the principle amount pay down is not sufficient. (? ) That makes no sense to me. 
I need help to resolve these problems, please. Each month My credit shows poor, and temporary income issues, caused solely by Covid and the government closing businesses, continues to be wrongfully held against me. I do not claim to have excellent credit, however my credit should, at least be, where it was when all of this started. Again, I have had a decrease of hundreds of points on my credit. At this point it should slowly be rising, however, this reporting has unfairly made it so I have to wait for my score to go up -- without a correction, due to the Disaster circumstances, this is unjust to me and my husband. This has caused me so many problems, my insurance going up, etc. It is causing extreme distress and hardship in my life. Please assist me. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation