Consumer complaint received 2022-02-28
Company: BANK OF THE WEST
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
I am writing for an investigation to dispute the inaccurate and erroneous information Bank of the West is reporting to the credit card bureaus. 
It started when an online scammer that placed a charge to my credit card ending in XXXX for the account of {$21.00}. 
I opened a dispute with Bank of the West Case ID : XXXX See attachment. 

Due to my mother was infected with XXXX, I had to travel outside the country from XX/XX/2021 to XX/XX/2021 and thus I was not aware of the late charges placed on my account. 

When I return, Bank of the West had added late fees for the last 2 months for the amount of {$83.00} and reported to the credit bureaus on on two 30 day late reports on XX/XX/2021 and 30 day late on XX/XX/2021. These charges must not have been imposed on my account during an investigation according to the Fair Credit Billing Act. See below. 
https : //www.consumer.ftc.govXXXX The Investigation The creditor may not take any legal or other action to collect the disputed amount and related charges ( including finance charges ) during the investigation. While your account can't be closed or restricted, the disputed amount can be applied against your credit limit. 
The creditor may not threaten your credit rating, report you as delinquent, accelerate your debt, or restrict or close your account because your bill is in dispute or you have used your FCBA rights. However, the creditor may report that you are challenging your bill. In addition, its against federal law for creditors to discriminate against credit applicants who exercise their rights in good faith under the FCBA. For example, a creditor cant deny you credit just because you've disputed a bill.

If it turns out that your bill has a mistake, the creditor must explain to you in writing the corrections that will be made to your account. In addition to crediting your account, the creditor must remove all finance charges, late fees, or other charges related to the error. 
If the creditor determines that you owe a portion of the disputed amount, you must get a written explanation. You may request copies of documents proving you owe the money.

If the creditor 's investigation determines the bill is correct, you must be told promptly and in writing how much you owe and why. You may ask for copies of relevant documents. At this point, you'll owe the disputed amount, plus any finance charges that accumulated while the amount was in dispute. You also may have to pay the minimum amount you missed paying because of the dispute.

If you disagree with the results of the investigation, you may write to the creditor, but you must act within 10 days after receiving the explanation, and you may indicate that you refuse to pay the disputed amount. At this point, the creditor may begin collection procedures. However, if the creditor reports you to a credit reporting company as delinquent, the report also must state that you don't think you owe the money. The creditor must tell you who gets these reports. The creditor also must promptly report any subsequent resolution of the reported delinquency, to everyone who got a report.

Any creditor who fails to follow the settlement procedure may not collect the amount in dispute, or any related finance charges, up to {$50.00}, even if the bill turns out to be correct. For example, if a creditor acknowledges your complaint in 45 days 15 days too late or takes more than two billing cycles to resolve a dispute, the penalty applies. The penalty also applies if a creditor threatens to report or improperly reports your failure to pay during the dispute period On XX/XX/2021, Bank of the West finalized the investigation and credited my account the {$21.00}. See attachment. 

I called the bank to dispute the my late fee charges and to clear my credit report. Although 2 costumer service representatives were very reluctant to dismiss the charges stating that Bank of the West policy does not allow them to dismiss late fee charges, I asked for a supervisor and I evoked the Fair Credit Billing Act ( FCBA ). And eventually the late charges were dismissed.

Now my issue is that when I applied for another credit card, it was brought to my attention that my XXXX XXXXredit score has gone down considerably. After contacting the 3 credit bureaus, They stated that Bank of the West is still reporting two 30 day late charges for XX/XX/2021 and XX/XX/2021 ( see attachment ) and although I opened a dispute with the bureaus, They stated I need to contact Bank of the West to clear the error.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation