Consumer complaint received 2021-02-16
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
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: Investigation took more than 30 days

Complaint:
I am a joint borrower for a used auto loan with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( hereafter referred to as XXXX ) ; my daughter was the other borrower and received the vehicle. As such, she is paying the loan via auto-pay directly from her bank, as she had done on the previous auto loan I co-borrowed with her. Per the XXXX loan agreement I am fully prepared to accept responsibility and make payments if she is unable to pay for any reason. I was told by the people at the dealership submitting the loan that I was co-signing the loan not co-borrowing, this only mattered that I didn't think much of it when I didn't receive completed copies of the contracts nor did I ever receive any communications about the loan or its status after I signed the contracts. Ten months later, due to the problem I am writing about and will describe in a little bit, I received copies of the loan documents showing I am a co-borrower not a guarantor or co-signor. This is very important because XXXX violated my rights under consumer laws and protections, by not provided me copies of the loan documents, they did not provide any communications regarding the status of the loan, nor did they ask or give me any options about receiving communications regarding the loan or its status. 

This all came to my attention when I received a notice on XX/XX/2020 from a bank I had a credit account with for almost 20 years that it was being closed due to an issue in my credit report. Up until that point I had a perfect credit record going back over 30 years, never a missed or late payment. When I checked my credit report I saw XXXX reported late payments for XXXX and XX/XX/2020 ( unknowingly something had gone wrong with my daughters auto pay which is not the issue of my complaint ). I immediately called XXXX on XX/XX/2020 at approximately XXXX and spoke to XXXX . I asked her if the payment was late why didn't I receive any communication from them so I could make the payment per the agreement and protect my credit rating. She confirmed there was no record of XXXX trying to contact me via any means. When I explained the importance of one 's credit score and asked her how could I possibly be expected to make a payment if they did not contact me that the co-borrower 's auto payment had failed ; she said she understood. She told me this would all be in the notes regarding our call including that she found no record of XXXX trying to contact me about the failed autopay or the risk of the loan being late. She also said in order for XXXX to fix my credit report I'd have to submit a dispute with the credit reporting agencies and the credit examiners at XXXX would be able to review the notes she made of our conversations in conjunction with the dispute. 

I tried disputing the report three times XXXX, XXXX, & XX/XX/2020 in conjunction with calling XXXX about the issue each time, in spite of what I was told on the phone by XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX and XXXX XX/XX/2020 XXXX the late payment stood but they did change my loan responsibility reporting from being a guarantor to a joint borrower. As I said earlier in my complaint I thought I was guaranteeing the loan it was only in XXXX, ten months after the loan origination when I received the loan documents, after requesting them for three months, that I learned I was a co-borrower. As such I should have received copies of the signed contracts soon after they were approved, I did not, and I should have also been given the option as the other co-borrower had, to choose a preferred form of communication regarding the status of the loan, which I did not get to do either. I got the first loan statement nine months after the start of the loan in XX/XX/2020 after I complained and called XXXX on XX/XX/2020 ; it took two more months and more requests to receive copies of the loan documents I had signed. 

While XXXX clearly violated consumer laws and protections by not sending me the signed agreements, nor sending me any loan status communications, or even giving me any option to receive them ; my primary concern is the late payments reported on my credit, which was perfect until then. Any reasonable person would agree and expect to be informed by the borrower that the auto-pay by the other co-borrower had lapsed and have a chance to make the payment protecting their credit score. I was never given this chance nor did I have any reason to believe there was a payment problem. I would also like to note that I twice paid a previous auto loan I co-borrowed with my daughter through Ally financial because I was notified the payment by her was 10 days late. Had XXXX simply contacted me which they were obligated to do because I was a co-borrower, they payments in question would have been made immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation