Consumer complaint received 2022-07-27
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: MS
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:
Complaint against Pentagon Federal Credit Union ( Penfed ; PenFed ), XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX : Investigation by Pentagon Federal Credit Union took more than 30 days from my opening of a direct dispute on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Investigation by Pentagon Federal Credit Union took more than 30 days from XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Credit bureaus did not update reports during these periods stating that the information was being disputed with PenFed; perhaps PenFed violated FCRA by failing to contact the credit bureaus to inform them of these disputes. Credit reports were not provided to me during these periods. 
I was not notified timely of investigation status or results. 
I was not provided with any names of people contacted and other elements, etc. connected to these investigations per the FCRA 's definition and requirements of an investigation. 
Their investigation did not fix the many inaccuracies that I pointed out to them on my report, which they have inaccurately reported for years. Please see the emails from XXXX PenFed executives and their remarks acknowledging the inaccuracies ; the timeframe ( longer than 30 days - months even ) that has passed and yet no removals have been made per FCRA. 
I've had difficulty submitting disputes or getting information about a dispute over the phone with credit bureaus. 

I realized during the summer of the pandemic that my Penfed credit card account had some serious inaccuracies and reporting issues. I then realized the reason for my credit denials and high interest rates for any credit that I could obtain since XXXX and high insurance premiums. For almost two years, I have disputed inaccuracies across the 3 bureaus and directly with Pentagon Federal Credit Union for my credit card account ending in XXXX. There have been instances where they suppressed my credit report so that I could not see the years in question whenever I pulled the reports, therefore I could not resubmit a dispute because there was no item listed to dispute. There are many violations per FCRA on this account due to it not being reported 100 % accurately. It has been happening for years and they willfully refuse to do anything about it. The bureaus have stated that they report the data that Penfed supplies to them. There have been times where there were different balances reporting at the XXXX bureaus and I had to dispute those to have them all updated. There have been different account statuses over the years where one would say " pays as agreed '' and another would say " Late over 30 days at least 6 times '' or " Current, was 90 days past due '' during the same reporting period. The date account opened and date account closed do not match on the 3 bureau reports either. Each time I have disputed the account with the bureaus and with Penfed directly, they send back the same response, that the account is reporting accurately. If the account is reporting 100 % accurately, why are all of the account statuses, date opened, date closed, amount of days late, amount of times late, etc. reported differently with all XXXX bureaus? I have submitted copies of my credit reports from the 3 bureaus and a table showing the inaccuracies to the bureaus and Penfed and they still say that this is 100 % accurate and have willfully chosen to keep the information the same. My credit and opportunity for any new credit has been ruined due to this XXXX account. In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a subprime auto loan due to these inaccuracies and the reporting of this account. I have had to pay astronomical interest for this car loan due to the inaccuracies and the way in which this account is reporting. I am certain that my XXXX  insurance rates were even higher due to this as well. 

Penfed has instructed the customer service representatives via notes in the system that they are to refer me to the executive team for this matter and they can no longer work on this case or give me updates as it is out of their hands on the lower level. Customer service reps have told me all that they see in the system is a note that says the items will be deleted, but there is nothing they can do because it is an escalated item. The thing is, none of the executives are available by phone ; they are avoidant, delay the process, dishonest, not engaging and not interested in resolving this matter. I have emailed the CEO of Penfed and he promised me that they would submit an XXXX XXXX XXXX to the credit bureaus in XX/XX/XXXX to resolve the matter. It is XX/XX/XXXX and nothing has changed except the bureaus have made unauthorized alterations and modifications. I have been rerouted to another PenFed executive, XXXX XXXX and he is always out of the office, on another call, on vacation, or awaiting someone else in the department to give him an opinion when he is the decision maker. He told me over the phone that he could bring remedy to this when there were damages that were discovered. He clearly sees them via the credit reports and charts that I compiled and sent to him via email and the CEO does as well, but they refuse to resolve it and compensate me for the violations. Over the years, I have been denied credit by Penfed and other creditors because of this account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX and XXXX because XXXX bank told me that they could not increase an existing tradeline for me because there was a note on the Penfed account stating that I was late. I was not late and had not been, and could not see that note on my personal consumer reports. Subsequently, XXXX Bank closed down the account which was in perfect standing with excellent payment history. On XX/XX/XXXX, Penfed denied me for a personal loan due to this account which is housed with them. However, they are always emailing and mailing me advertisements as if the opportunities are open to me. 

After several disputes and calls, and being told by PenFed and the 3 bureaus that the account was 100 % accurate I filed another dispute directly with PenFed via email to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. ( attachment ) I told them that they could not do a hard or soft pull on my credit to check the data, as they should have an accurate record and archive of what they have reported to the bureaus on file. 

Despite me sending an outline of the inaccuracies and violations attached to the email, on XX/XX/XXXX ( 45 days later ) I received a response letter via postal mail that said the account was accurate and they will continue to report it as-is. I'd compiled a chart to make it easier for them to see where the inaccuracies lie, hoping this would make the process go better and faster. If they were reporting 100 % accurately as they continue to state, why do each of the bureaus have different information and why does none of the information match for the months/years, statuses, and dates in question? ( response letter attachment ) Also, Penfed did not notify the bureaus that I was disputing the information that they continued to report during this time. I received no correspondence from the bureaus regarding the matter, and no copies of my credit report during this period. No notices were included, stating that I was disputing this information. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed the CEO of PenFed, XXXX XXXX. I explained the situation to him since no one else in the institution would budge and any supervisor who was in the credit department was always unavailable according to customer service. His response was boilerplate as well ; stating that they must report accurate information by law. That was my point exactly ; they were not following the law with all of those inaccuracies. He told me that they could not honor my request at the time and that they'd done a soft pull on my credit and saw no inconsistencies in reporting. I specifically wrote them via email in XX/XX/XXXX, and told them that they did not have my permission to do a hard or soft inquiry on my credit report, yet he claims that they did it anyway -- against my written instructions telling them not to. 

I filed another dispute with the bureaus and I received responses from them at the end of XX/XX/XXXX, stating the same ; the creditor says the information is accurate. ( credit reports attached ) I noticed that XXXX made modifications to the payment history after I disputed this time, yet they did not remove it from the file ; they reduced the amount of time on each occurrence as if they were doing me a favor, which is again, still inaccurate data! You will see on my chart and previous credit reports before the XX/XX/XXXX dispute results, that XXXX was reporting a certain amount of days prior to the XX/XX/XXXX dispute, and on the XX/XX/XXXX dispute results they modified the time under the " Account History with Status Codes '' section that show XXXX and XXXX data. The number of days that fall within the status codes do not match the number of days they were reporting in previous reports. Still, none of the data matches what the other bureaus have for this account for those same months/years. I was confused as to why they did this. 


I called PenFed to follow up and continue to fight for my rights on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with XXXX. The XXXX # was XXXX. I was given the extension to the credit dispute department which I was told was XXXX at the time. 

XXXX XXXX emailed me back on XX/XX/XXXX and stated that on XX/XX/XXXX, the automated universal dataform was submitted to the bureaus. Penfed submitted an automated universal dataform to all XXXX bureaus to fix the matter. ( email thread attachment ) On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I called Penfed at XXXX p.m. and after XXXX minutes, the representative came back on the line and told me that they were awaiting a confirmation letter from the credit bureaus that the XXXX and XXXX items had been deleted from my report and that I'd receive a letter after that. This was 3 months after the CEO of PenFed told me in XXXX that it would only take 30 days for the process. When I contacted the bureaus, they said that they had not received anything from Penfed except normal data like my payment updates whenever I made monthly payments, and if they had received anything additional, they would have updated the account accordingly. 

PenFed reps have given me various case numbers over time after time including : XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ), XXXX ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX ), XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ). 

I received a letter in the mail dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that the new case that was opened by a PenFed representative was closed due to the issue already being completed, however I had no clue as to what issue had been completed! Nothing had been completed or resolved. I'd received no written correspondence or update from PenFed, although the XXXX promised in XXXX that I would within 30 days from the date they'd submitted the AUD to the bureaus. 

After receiving the letter stating the issue had been resolved, on XX/XX/XXXX, I pulled my credit reports and XXXX was reporting XXXX late payments, had changed all of the " number of days late '' data and reduced all instances to 30 days, changed the status to " XXXX, was past due 30 days XXXX times or more '' and the status date was still XX/XX/XXXX, but the payment date for that month was reported as XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX deleted XXXX of the inaccuracies and kept XXXX, and the status read as " XXXX, or pays as agreed '' yet the number of days for the instances that they continued to report did not match XXXX 's data reporting or status. I am not certain what process they used to choose which XXXX to delete and which XXXX to keep. The year XXXX was suppressed on XXXX 's XX/XX/XXXX report and I could not view this data. The same thing for XXXX, XXXX instances were deleted and XXXX were kept and they were not the same month or amount of days that XXXX was reporting chose ; none of the account information matched. The year XXXX was also suppressed in this report. Both statuses read the same, " pays account as agreed '' and the status updated date was XX/XX/XXXX. After I expressed that I felt I was being discriminated against, XXXX and/or PenFed even removed the excellent payment history that I had on a PenFed Installment account that was opened in XX/XX/XXXX. When I called them and questioned why they'd removed my payment history from the PenFed installment account, they told me that PenFed could do it if they wanted to. To sum it up, PenFed and the XXXX bureaus did not notify me about these changes. I received no correspondences by mail, no copies of my credit reports, no communication whatsoever. I only knew because I monitor my reports on a consistent basis. The letter that I received on XX/XX/XXXX and these data changes prompted me to call PenFed the next day. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called PenFed and spoke with a representative regarding the letter that I'd received, which stated that the " issue '' had been resolved. I thought that they'd finally resolved the matter like they promised, but to my suprise my credit reports remained the same after this - not reporting 100 % accurate and with so many inaccuracies, violations, and modifications on this XXXX account. They told me I had to continue waiting and it was an XXXX issue now. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX 's dispute department and they claimed that they would remove the late payment reporting due to the inaccuracies reporting on the account across the bureaus for XXXX and XXXX, and instead they deleted my entire account - erasing all of the excellent payment history, eliminating an account as well which decreased my credit score and history. On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX at or around XXXX XXXX., inquiring as to why they deleted the entire account as opposed to the inaccuracies only and they stated that I must submit a letter of verification that the PenFed account belongs to me and that it is accurate! They clearly never asked my permission to report it from the beginning, but now since I've asked them to right their wrong-doing, and challenged their modifications, lack of investigation and refusal to take my evidence as proof of the FCRA violations XXXX they punished me by deleting an account that I've worked so hard to maintain rather than just fix the inaccuracies. 

Here 's where Penfed 's major problem may be. In XXXX, I recall Penfed offered me a " re-aging '' program. They told me that they would re-age the account and that re-aging would not hurt my credit. I have done that, but they did not tell the truth. I have paid this closed {$17000.00} tradeline account down to {$2200.00} in less than 4 years and they have done nothing but ruin my credit and my life since then, and the bureaus have helped them to keep this up by reporting the inaccuracies. They closed the tradeline, did not report the account 100 % accurately, denied me credit and other creditors denied me credit due to this account, and the notes and various statuses that they added to the account over the years. It has been over 6 months since the CEO of PenFed promised me that the AUD would go out to the bureaus to make this account 100 % accurate and that has not happened as the email thread will and credit reports will show. 

They have had well over a year to resolve the issue. Attached, you will see credit reports and a chart that show the side by side XXXX comparison of original data reporting and violations. You will also see email correspondences between Penfed departments/executives and me, and you will see current reports that show that they have not resolved this matter and the inaccuracies and FCRA violations are still there. When I have complained numerous times to XXXX and XXXX and opened disputes over the phone, I did not receive a credit report by mail or in any other form. Whenever I called to check the status, I was told that there was no dispute on file. They were using this method to start the XXXX process over again and delay time. I also noticed all of my disputes that have been filed online are missing from the online archives portal in my account. They suppressed my reports and I can only view 2 or 3 years which all show excellent payment history, but a creditor can view every year reported beyond those years and I can not ; nor can I dispute that information if it is not listed. I had to view the reports on XXXX which sometimes I'd get a message saying I could not view the reports at this time. I was finally able to submit a dispute and get a response in XX/XX/XXXX which I spoke of previously. 

XXXX now reports a status that says that I have XXXX late payments on myequifax.com, but when I scroll back through the years, all of the inaccuracies from PenFed are still there. When I pulled my current XX/XX/XXXX XXXX report from myannualcreditreport.com, I can see all of the inaccuracies are still reporting and do not match the other bureaus. Previously, they'd deleted XXXX payments and kept XXXX on the report. Now all XXXX are showing again and still do not match the information reported by the other bureaus during this reporting period. Additionally, my PenFed installment account which had excellent payment history was wiped clean of all payment history. They deleted all of my payments and the installment account was never late, was paid off early in XXXX and had nothing to do with this situation. If they must report information accurately, how can they tamper with a positive account with excellent history that was paid and closed 5 years ago and has nothing to do with the situation ; yet refuse to fix the account that is being disputed and has inaccuracies? That is another violation of my rights and FCRA. I want to be compensated for those violations as well, for every payment that is missing from the PenFed installment account, which is dated from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX. This was done intentionally after I mentioned discrimination over the phone. XXXX and XXXX are still reporting the payments, however some of them are missing as well when they were not before. 

XXXX remains the same, reporting inaccurate information. XXXX deleted the entire account based upon the credit reports and chart that I submitted for the second time, affecting my credit score because I lost an XXXX XXXX XXXX account and its history which affected my scoring calculations. All of the bureaus and Penfed have willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act for years, have violated my rights, caused financial loss and detriment. I am still dealing with the effects of it to this day with a subprime auto loan and high insurance premium ; let 's not forget the numerous times I was denied credit opportunities when I, my family and business needed it.

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