Consumer complaint received 2021-03-25
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: GA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
Per XXXX customer service, I disputed this account with each credit bureau several times, requesting that the 30 day late payment be removed. For each dispute, the 30 day late payment was verified as accurate. I recently received a letter stating that after review of my account, it was determined the information was reported as accurate. I strongly dispute the recorded 30 day late payment in XXXX. 

A payment was made on XX/XX/2020 and two payments were made XX/XX/2020 and XX/XX/2020. During this period in time, the escrow on my loan was in the process of being removed. 

A bit of background : when the loan was originated, I opted out of escrow. However, several months ago, escrow was added to my account, causing my loan payment to increase. I repeatedly requested to have the escrow removed, as Ive elected to pay my home owners insurance and property taxes separate from my mortgage loan. After speaking with the escrow department and several customer service representatives, as documented by XXXX representatives, I followed the process to have the escrow removed ( satisfying the escrow balance and sending signed letters to request that escrow be waived ). I was assured that escrow would be corrected and removed. I was then instructed to make my normal mortgage payment, sans escrow. 

On XX/XX/2020, XXXX received my mortgage payment sans escrow. XXXX has a 17 day grace period where as a payment is considered late if it is received after the XXXX of the month. A late fee was was charged to my account ( and later waived ) because of the initial back and forth with customer service representatives instructing me to wait before paying my mortgage payment until escrow was properly removed. I was told that paying a different amount than what the system was displaying may cause my payment to be returned to me. The XX/XX/2020 loan payment was subsequently returned to me because the escrow had not been removed from my loan as I was assured and my account still showed that I owed a loan amount which included escrow. 

Upon contacting XXXX about the returned payment, they assured me that the escrow had been removed from my account and I could resubmit the payment, sans escrow. I resubmitted my payment and on XX/XX/2020, XXXX received and applied my XXXX mortgage payment to my account. On XX/XX/2020, XXXX received and applied my XXXX mortgage payment to my account. 

Since this loan was originated, I have made each of my mortgage payments timely and have never been 30 or more days late. While dealing with the effects of COVID-19, I have worked extremely hard to stay afloat and not let any of my financial responsibilities fall behind or suffer adversely. Receiving a 30 day late payment on my XXXX mortgage account ( I have never been late for any accounts that are reported on my credit ) has ruined my credit and has caused creditors to decrease my credit lines on several of my accounts because my credit scores severely suffered with the 30 day late payment that is currently being incorrectly reported on my mortgage account with XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation