Consumer complaint received 2020-08-18
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: IL
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: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
To whom it may concern : I am writing to dispute my account being reported as delinquent to credit reporting agencies. I will be providing dates and times of my communication with various members of XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX as well as enclosing documents relevant to this situation. 

This account was to end in XXXX of XXXX. I was contacted in XXXX of XXXX by XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX telling me they wanted my XXXX XXXX back on the lot and offered to let me trade the car in for a new one, and they would pay the remaining balance on the lease. I accepted and made an appointment to discuss this in early XXXX. I decided to trade in the XXXX for a XXXX XXXX. I was assured multiple times that the dealership would be sending a check to XXXX for the remaining lease balance. This amounted to {$2200.00}. 

I received a bill in the mail in early XXXX for this amount. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX and they asked me to send a copy of the bill to them and I was, again, assured multiple times I needed to do nothing and they would take care of this issue. 

I received an automated text message on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX telling me that I had a late payment and to contact XXXX  to resolve this. I knew I was up to date on my XXXX payments and believed my XXXX payments were no longer an issue. So I called the number multiple times and every time the call hung up after an automated message informed me call volumes were too high due to Covid 19. I checked both accounts online and both said my balance was {$0.00}. So I assumed I received this message in error. 

I received a second automated text message on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. This text message told me the same thing as the first. So I called the number provided XXXX XXXX ) at XXXX. I was told by the XXXX representative I spoke to that both of my accounts were up to date and they were not showing any late payments on their end. They informed me that I must have received this message by accident and to disregard it. 

I then received a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX telling me that I owed {$2200.00}. I explained the situation to the representative that the dealership should have paid this and could they send me a copy of the bill to forward on to said dealership. I then immediately contacted XXXX XXXX, the sales manager of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, via phone call where he asked that I send the bill as he believed they already satisfied the balance owed. I emailed him a copy of the bill. He told me he would investigate the matter. After investigating, he had a check sent out to me for the amount of {$2200.00}. This check was made out to me instead of XXXX  and I was to pay XXXX  directly. The check was issued on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I received another phone call from XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX telling me I had until XX/XX/XXXX to satisfy this balance or I would be sent to collections. I emailed XXXX XXXX again asking for an update to where the check was as I needed to get this taken care of. I finally received the check, deposited it into my bank account, and paid the extra {$7.00} money transfer fee over the phone with XXXX in order to finally have this taken care of. This occurred on XX/XX/XXXX. Ten days before the date I was told I had to pay by. I have included the XXXX XXXX Transfer receipt confirming the date this was paid. 

I then received an alert from XXXX  that I had a delinquent account. I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and was told I had paid on time and their records showed I did not have a delinquent account and I would need to contact the credit agencies to find out what was going on. I did and recently received letters stating that XXXX said the information regarding late payments was accurate but they would remove the delinquency. The late payments are effecting my credit terribly. It has been severely impacted ( down over 150 points ) and my credit card companies have started flagging me as a possible risk, lowering credit limits by XXXX  of XXXX  of dollars which has been hurting my credit even further. I have never had a late payment on a single bill in my entire life so this disruption to my usually stellar credit is something I would like taken care of as soon as possible. 

I contacted XXXX  again at phone number XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX to make sure that the account was still closed and was ended in good standing. I was informed by XXXX that there was no 30, 60, or 90 day past due alerts and that the account was not reported as delinquent by XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX again. I spoke with XXXX XXXX ( employee ID number # XXXX ) who sent a dispute on my behalf as well. She agreed that I shouldn't be held accountable for the late payments according to the facts of the situation. 

I was also told multiple times that XXXX wasn't sending late payment or delinquency alerts to credit agencies anyway due to Covid19. 

As documented, payment of this bill was the responsibility of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX. Because of this, I would like the late payments and the delinquency status removed from my credit file as soon as possible.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation