Consumer complaint received 2022-07-02
Company: STATE EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION
State: NC
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:
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Im writing because I noticed that my most recent credit report contains late payments for a Salary Advance Account from North Carolina 's State Employees Credit Union ( SECU ) reported for months XXXX, XXXX and XXXX of XXXX. 

When I signed for a salary advance, in XXXX, it was not communicated to me that this would reflect on my credit report. I have had several different loans with the credit union over the years, all in great stating without any late payments. Upon signing documents for car and personal loans, it was made lucidly clear that those loans were going to be reflected on my credit report as installment loans. I understood if I were to miss a payment, it would convey on my credit report as such. I made these payments even through a harsh pandemic in which my husband was furloughed and my mother-in-law and grandmother passed away from XXXX. My husband being an XXXX XXXX, we were solely responsible for ensuring that she was memorialized properly. Despite this, we still made sure to keep up with our obligations. During our financial turmoil, we still made sure to pay our obligations. 

The salary advance loan was taken out as we hit a huge financial hurdle in XXXX. We were required to pay approximately {$3800.00} in state taxes, which was resolved during this time. This was a salary advance that was not communicated as a revolving line of credit that would impact my credit score. As a result of the miscommunication, we prioritized things that we knew would impact our credit before it in addition to our State tax debt. We were finally able to clear the salary advance in XXXX. When we finally got our heads above water in XXXX, we also began paying off every medial collection acquired during the XXXX. Some were quite large. It was then when I realized that my credit score dropped by XXXX points because the salary advance was reported as a revolving line of credit. I went to the branch to retrieve a copy of the paperwork, nothing in the documentation conveyed that this would ever result in being a ding on my credit report. The branch manager even went insofar as to say " Well, I wasn't there to know what was communicated to you. '' He, and others that I've spoken to on the phone were unwilling to appeal to the possibility that they were a part of the communication break down. I have had a total of 5 loans with the credit union, including an auto loan that was paid off. Not a single late payment. Why on God 's green earth would I pay those and not the pay day loan? It is so very clear that I was unaware of how this loan was reported. As a home owner, we didn't have a need to review our credit situation over the years. I had absolutely no clue that this loan was framed as a revolving line. A revolving line would entail a balance be paid over time. They held restricted cash of mine in an account that totaled {$160.00}. Why would they not use portions of that as a " minimum payment '' prior to tanking my credit over a pay day loan during a pandemic that knocked us the ground ( my grandmother died 12 days before my mother in law in XXXX )? 

I am appealing to get this negative information to be removed from my credit profile. As previously stated, this negative information as it was not clearly communicated as something that would impact my credit. You have to ask yourself why we would pay the other loans, despite going through pandemic related financial turmoil, a brief tax issue that resulted in our paying a XXXX XXXX to clear all tax debts, and not this one? It was never clear that this would impact my credit. I keep talking to person-after-person and they keep implying that Im asking them to scrub my credit and implying that I would want them to break the law. I work for the governing body of CPAs. I would never want any institution to break the law on my behalf. What Im asking them to do is to take some accountability for not properly communicating that this would reflect on my credit report as a revolving line. I had no reason to monitor my credit throughout the years as weve own our home, paid our credit card bills, paid off a car note ( with SECU none the less ) without any late payments, kept current on our personal loan and XXXX car note with SECU. The reason why I focused on my credit history because we both received substantial raises in XXXX and wanted to pay off the medical collections on our credit reports. This is literally the only ding on my credit and it does not reflect my true credit worthiness. Additionally, they are legally able to make concessions for those impacted by XXXX and they are choosing not to. Let me also add that when I spoke to someone on the phone, she made a point to tell me that they did a pull in XXXX and my credit wasn't great because I had " collections ''. Those collections were for medical bills and one was an error. Every single collection on my credit report was resolved. The only other negative item is over 4 years old. My XXXX  loans have some negative history, but they are being cancelled and will also be removed from my credit report. I just wanted to ensure that you have every bit of information needed. Revolving lines, have 13 years of no late payments. I have 8 years of no late payments with SECU. There was clearly a breach in communication somewhere along the process. Thanks again for taking the time to understand my complaint.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation