Consumer complaint received 2019-12-14
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
My husband and I have excellent credit. We own our home outright, we pay off our revolving credit every month, using it only for the mileage we accrue. We own our cars outright, we have excellent income, my husband is XXXX XXXX, I have excellent length of employment, etc. 

This summer our credit scores were in the 800s. We decided to do an addition to our home and for this reason we obtained a {$100000.00} personal loan, as well as two zero interest credit cards. We used this route for financing as we did not want the requirements of having to hire a general contractor that a construction loan would demand. My husband is a skilled craftsman and is doing much of the work himself. We fully expected that our credit would drop and it did, to the mid 700s. This has been improving each month because we pay our loan on time and the card that we are using to obtain materials is paid in full each month. 

This morning, I logged on to my XXXX XXXX account and was shocked to discover that FICO score reported by Equifax had dropped 51 points! The reason given was an increase in the balance on the card that I use to purchase materials. This card is paid IN FULL each month. From what I can ascertain, the company obtain a balance and gives no review whatsoever to purchases and payments made, which is ridiculous. 

I contacted Equifax by phone, which is in itself no mean feat. You have to dig and dig through their website to find a number. I then spent over an hour on the phone trying to resolve this issue. The initial representative that I spoke with was named XXXX. She transferred me to XXXX. XXXX proceeded to lecture me about XXXX XXXX not being accurate and that if I signed up for Equifaxes Services for {$7.00} a month this would not be a problem. He asked me what the credit score on XXXX XXXX was and told him that it was XXXX, down over 50 points in one month. He told me that this score was not accurate but that he could not give me my score, I had to sign up for their services. I asked him to transfer me to a supervisor who gave me the same story. I then asked to speak to her boss. She transferred me to XXXX. We had a similar circular conversation and he finally said, well your score is showing over 800 on my account. I said thank you. I then went on to XXXX and XXXX and my scores were in the mid 700s. I was suspicious of XXXX 's answer, so I dug a little further and found out that I could register for a free FICO score and credit report with Equifax, so I did. Not surprisingly, it showed XXXX. 

It seems to me that this is an absurd drop based on faulty and incomplete data. There is no means for me to have Equifax fix this and it seems that XXXX lied to get me off the phone. 

I would like to know what, if any remedy I have to this issue. Once we are finished with our addition/remodel we will be applying for a home equity line to lower our interest rate and pay this off sooner. This FICO score issue will impact us greatly on what rate we are eligible for. 

The second issue I have is the difficulty these companies create in contacting them. They seem to hope that most people will just give up and go away. They are using my data to make money. They should not be allowed to try and scam us or charge us to access our data. 

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to hearing from you. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation