Consumer complaint received 2022-05-13
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: PA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from creditor XXXX stating, We're writing to let you know that starting XX/XX/XXXX, your XXXX XXXX credit account issued XXXX  XXXX can no longer be used for purchases XXXX  XXXX. This is necessary because our agreement with our current financing partner is ending. This is a business formality, it's not because of anything you did. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a credit monitoring alert stating, XXXX had reported a new account. I was also notified that my score decreased XXXX points. I felt that this was a significant decreases for a simple account transition/re-branding. Upon investigating the alert further I saw that XXXX was reporting the re-branded account as having been opened XX/XX/XXXX effectively wiping out the original account history with this company. I originally started doing business with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I opened a customer service ticket with XXXX explaining my concerns regarding the loss of account history when reporting this account as new rather than re-branded by the merchant. Their response, received XX/XX/XXXX, consisted of what I would describe as erroneous and completely unhelpful credit education. As a result I submitted disputes with all 3 credit bureaus regarding this issue on the very same day. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a response from Experian. There was absolutely no change to the information being reported by XXXX. I then placed a call to XXXX customer service. I spoke with a gentleman named XXXX. XXXX reiterated that it is a new account due to the transition and the date opened is correct. XXXX then offered to provide a letter via email stating the following, Dear Valued Customer, As of XX/XX/XXXX, we are issuing a new credit account because our agreement with our current financing partner is ending. This is a business formality and not because of any action taken by our customer. Weve taken this as an opportunity to rename our credit product to XXXX XXXX. 

The XXXX XXXX XXXX Account no longer has utility, and a new XXXX XXXX XXXX Account has utility for ongoing purchases. There will be a merchant closed XXXX XXXX tradeline and an open XXXX XXXX tradeline. The customer has not applied for additional credit. XXXX XXXX is in good standing as of the date of this letter. 
XXXX Credit Accounts are issued by XXXX, Member FDIC. 
Sincerely, XXXX As I explained to XXXX during our call, this does not address the issue of the account history being re-aged. XXXX went on to say that the new finance partner could not report the original account open date. I know from personal experience this is not true. I have another account that switched finance partners and my original account open date was not changed. 

I respectfully ask that XXXX XXXX correct the invalid information they are reporting to the credit bureaus. The consumer should not be negatively impacted by internal business decisions made using poor foresight and planning. For those consumers rebuilding their credit or trying to complete a major transaction this would be devastating. 

While I am in neither group, I am very well educated on the significant impact average age of accounts has on a consumer score. I am diligent in monitoring and maintaining my credit profile and wish this issue to be corrected without delay.

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