Consumer complaint received 2023-10-09
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
In late XXXX I signed for a one-time close fixed rate 30 year conventional mortgage on a new construction house with XXXXXXXX XXXX. Due to COVID, it took a very long time to build the house. When it was finally time to move in and convert the loan from a construction loan to a mortgage, XXXX told me I would need to refinance ( at the current prevailing rate, which was much higher ). I stated that I had paid extra to lock my rate and have a guarantee and that it was explicitly stated in writing that this was a one-time close loan that had already closed, and merely needed to be converted, not refinanced. XXXX insisted they were right despite overwhelming evidence. I was forced to use a local law firm to show them their error and fight them, otherwise I would be left without a home. This cost me about $ XXXX, which XXXX never reimbursed me for, despite them backing down and losing. XXXX then proceeded to keep their loan on their books instead of selling it, as they would have otherwise done had they been able to force me to refinance. The loan is being serviced by XXXX directly. I have faithfully made my payments on time. In XXXX of this year ( XXXX ) XXXX sent me written notice in the mail that I would need to send my payments to a new address AND use a new account number. The mail was extremely confusing and did not clearly designate which account number was the new one and which was the old one. I pay my mortgage via XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX online billpay feature. I logged in and updated the payment information. But it looks like, while I successfully changed the address, the account number either did not update or their mail was so confusing that I believed I had the correct new one. I made my XXXX payment as usual. Much later I received a notice from XXXX that my payment was not accepted. There were funds in the account. It was merely not accepted because of the account number issue. So XXXX did receive my payment, yet rejected it. Much later, the funds came back into my account. I did not notice since it took them so long to return them, and thought everything was fine, since the funds had left my account. I then went to pay my XXXX installment. Unbeknownst to me, this was credited for XXXX, since they had rejected the XXXX payment. I called XXXX about the letter and they said to ignore it and that everything was fine. Recordings of my calls with customer service will reveal this. I received letters in the following months stating that my mortgage was late. Each time this happened, I called XXXX and each time I was instructed to ignore it and that my mortgage was paid up and fine. I kept making my usual payment, but unbeknownst to me, it was being credited to the prior month due to the " missed '' payment. I would even call XXXX multiple times in the same day since I thought the advice to " ignore it '' was suspect, and thought maybe I just got a bad customer service rep. Over and over again, I was told by different reps everything was fine, over the course of months. Finally on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX my XXXX XXXX app alerted me XXXXXXXX XXXX had reported me late. I called and inquired why. I had been making my payments and they were being credited one month in arrears because of the " missed '' payment, and I had been making those payments BEFORE the XXXX of the month. XXXX 's was made on the XXXX, and any payment made after the XXXX is reported late to the credit bureaus. This is how I finally found out that I had " missed '' a payment and everything was not in fact fine. I had to escalate to supervisors and my call was disconnected multiple times. I made the " missed '' payment as well as the current month 's payment immediately, but XXXX refused to remove the blemish from my credit report despite this situation being entirely their fault. The mortgage is current and I need the late reporting removed from my credit report immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation