Consumer complaint received 2017-06-08
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Old information reappears or never goes away

Complaint:
When I was a student back in  XXXX ,   XXXX   was still considered   XXXX   XXXX  . I had to drop out of my classes due to familial and personal obligations and was unable to continue my classes. I had called   XXXX   XXXX   in XX/XX/XXXX , just before dropping my classes to ask them about my repayment options, they told me that I would have 6 months from the time my semester was over to start repayment. I dropped the class and was later contacted in  XX/XX/XXXX  by a representative telling me that my repayment had begun in  XX/XX/XXXX . I had informed them at that time that I was having personal issues and could not pay the loan back at that time and they put me into some type of deferment over the phone. In  XXXX , I was back to school and I was able to change my deferment status to " In School Deferment ''.
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A long time has passed since I ever contacted   XXXX   XXXX  , including the company moving over to  XXXX . As I was reviewing my credit report, I noticed that several of my loans had late payments on them. I tried about 3 times to dispute the late payments, and instead of being removed, they were being updated, causing them to be more perceptible.
I did some research about the Fair Credit Reporting Act before contacting   XXXX   directly. Because I did not have any documentation, ( at this point 4 years have passed and I have moved from home to home multiple times. ) they said they were not able to change it. Further, they informed me that they do not have any record of ever speaking with me in XX/XX/XXXX , rather, they claim they have tried to contact me several times and were unsuccessful at doing so.
Though they do not admit to speaking with me in  XX/XX/XXXX  and applying an economic hardship deferment to my account over the phone, they do admit to updating my account with an Administrative Forebearance in  XX/XX/XXXX , when I called them and told them that I was now in school. Though they updated my account, they refuse to update my credit report with a forebearance that they qualified me for. Through the many times that I spoke with customer service representatives at  XXXX , many of them had difficulty even locating that there was ever a late payment on my account because it was covered by a forebearance, and followed by an in-school deferment.
I do not know what went wrong or why they have no record of my  XX/XX/XXXX phone call. I do not know their internal business practices or how much information they lost throughout the process of being merged into a different company, what I do know however, is there was an admission of a forebearance being processed on my account, and that means that there was an Update on my account that brought my account to current. My loans were consolidated and closed with  XXXX  since the end of   XXXX   but these late payments remain, and may remain for another 3 years. Unfortunately the remark on my credit report says " serious delinquency '' which I have not had since my delinquency with   XXXX   XXXX  .
My understanding is, per FCRA 623 ( a ) ( 2 ), that it is not only the duty of  XXXX  ( formerly   XXXX   XXXX   ) to correct information on my credit report, but also to UPDATE it when an update becomes available. Any time of deferment or forebearance applied to my account would be considered an update to my account and should be reported as such. Per Advisory Opinion to   XXXX   ( https : //www.ftc.gov/policy/advisory-opinions/advisory-opinion-harris-03-22-99 ) " Section 623 ( a ) ( 2 ) of the FCRA addresses the duty to correct and update information by " furnishers, '' or persons who furnish information to consumer reporting agencies ( " CRA '' ) such as credit bureaus. In particular, this section requires a person that " has furnished to a consumer reporting agency information that the person determines is not complete or accurate '' to " promptly notify the consumer reporting agency of that determination '' and provide any information needed to make it complete and accurate. ( 1 ) Thus, on its face, this provision requires a furnisher to provide corrected or updated information to the consumer reporting agency that it had reported to originally. '' If   XXXX   or any representative of  XXXX  made the determination that I qualify for a deferment or forebearance that would bring my account current, they should have furnished that information to the credit reporting bureaus to cover the months that were initially reported as delinquent. Below, I have uploaded 1 of 2 letters sent to me by  XXXX . The name and signature of the representative have been redacted for the privacy of the advocate who was " helping '' me. They should be able to provide a copy of the first letter also, as I do not have an electronic copy of it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation