Consumer complaint received 2022-04-05
Company: Mercedes Benz Financial Services
State: WA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Old information reappears or never goes away

Complaint:
I first asked the CFPB to help me remove this same Mercedes Benz ( MBFS ) account two months ago in complaint XXXX. I alleged that XXXX since XXXX of XXXX has allowed MBFS to change the first date of delinquency and as a result reage the account. That complaint was forwarded to XXXX and they responded asking for more time to investigate and verify the incorrect information on my report for MBFS. THE CFPB closed the complaint and XXXX did nothing to remedy the incorrect information reported or its reaging of the MBFS account. 

The account right now shows as closed on my XXXX credit report but it continues to contain negative information including a charge off and past due balance of over {$27000.00}. The first date of delinquency is listed as XX/XX/XXXX and it's this date that MBFS changed in XX/XX/XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX and its the heart of my reaging allegations against both XXXX and MBFS. I have attached 5 separate reports to this complaint. The first XXXX report is dated in XX/XX/XXXX and it shows the XX/XX/XXXX as the first delinquency date as being reported since it first appeared. Next is a XX/XX/XXXX Annual Credit Report showing that in XX/XX/XXXX the XX/XX/XXXX date was first reported and there is no reference to the XX/XX/XXXX date. Next are three reports XXXX, XXXX and the latest report XX/XX/XXXX all showing the reaging and specifically that in XX/XX/XXXX the first date of delinquency changed from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. 

My last complaint also laid out the timeline as follows : My first missed payment was XX/XX/XXXX. I have my XXXX XXXX  statements and records showing auto payments made every month since the car lease started ending in XX/XX/XXXX. I've included those as well as attachments labeled MBFS. Due to a personal matter that coincided with that month I can assure you that no additional payments were made and the car was repossessed weeks later. 

It's well-established that late or missed payments, chargeoffs, and repossessions can remain on a consumers for seven years and that the seven years begins with date of first missed payment. Often times that date is unclear because there is incomplete or no records for the reporting agency to go by. That is not the case here as I have my XXXX XXXX  records and monthly statements from XXXX which show that my auto payments taken out each month on the XXXX stopped in XX/XX/XXXX and my first missed payment was XX/XX/XXXX. 

My credit report contained the first delinquency date of XX/XX/XXXX at all times over the past few years but that changed XXXX of XXXX which coincides with when I first reached out to XXXX on the account. Since XX/XX/XXXX the first date of delinquency has been listed incorrectly as XX/XX/XXXX ( the same date listed for the chargeoff and date of first major delinquency. ) The XX/XX/XXXX date has vanished and even though that date is incorrect based on my records which show my first missed payment was XX/XX/XXXX it would still be more than seven years old if the reaging didn't occur.

After receiving the most recent report from XXXX verifying the incorrect info once again, I called MBFS and spoke to three employees in their collections department on XX/XX/XXXX. None of the employees could tell me when my last payment was which only matters because I learned that their system didn't contain that information or when my first missed payment occurred, the balances on any date, or what my monthly payment was any of the months that I leased the car in question. They didn't try to deny their inability to verify anything substantive relative to my account since they had a new system and the system didn't go back that far. Their system only indicated for my account a charge off date of XX/XX/XXXX. The most senior of the three employees told me that this date was all that mattered since my date of delinquency is the same as the charge off date. He incorrectly told me that I was wrong in believing that the seven years that negative information can remain on my account begins on the first miss payment date and even though he has no way of knowing when my first missed payment occurred its not relevant anyway. 
In short, MBFS employees confirmed what I have known all along. XXXX can verify my name and the account with MBFS but that is all they can verify. In all my letters and all my calls and the prior CFPB complaint I've consistently said the account is old and must be removed and provided them with the records showing my first payment date correctly being XX/XX/XXXX. Their reinvestigations are a farce. If they do exist they are ineffective since MBFS admits they do not know when my first missed payment occured. The reaging is evident with the documents showing the date change from XX/XX/XXXX TO XX/XX/XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. 
I have filed six disputes with XXXX on this account and written them more than 10 letters and called them over 30 times on this account. I have told them about a small business loan of mine that has been denied and that I was forced to move apartments when the property management company started using XXXX as a credit bureau XXXX XXXX. I have over XXXX XXXX XXXX with XXXX and XXXX but much lower on XXXX. The amount of effort and time I've spent on this is extraordinary all an attempt to have something removed by the only entity they can remove it but yet it remains This Mercedes account and the XXXX student loan account that are both over 7 years old are the only two derogatory accounts to my name.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation