Consumer complaint received 2023-04-19
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
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:
Overview and Background In XXXX, my late grandmother, XXXX XXXX, took out a loan on my behalf so that she could provide financial assistance for college tuition and related expenses. Before my grandmother applied for the loan, she consulted with her youngest son on which financial product would be in our best interest. It came down to XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX. Her son at the time was an employee at an affiliated company, XXXX, and advised her that this was the better option since it had a faster approval process even though it had a variable interest rate that was much higher than the 2.5 % fixed rate that was offered to her by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

My grandmother completed the combined application-promissory note in its entirety. Thus, my grandmother was the primary and only borrower on the loan with no cosigner. However, XXXX XXXX XXXX required student information in order to verify that I was a fulltime student at XXXX. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, she unfortunately passed away from XXXX. Naturally, the family reached out to all her debtors where she may have had lines of credit or outstanding financial obligations. This also included XXXX XXXX, formerly known as XXXX XXXX XXXX, where we were initially under the impression that the loan would cease to exist after providing my grandmothers death certificate. It was during XX/XX/XXXX when I found out this was not the case when XXXX reported me to the credit bureaus as 30 days past due. When I contacted their customer support team, I was told that my name was on the application as a cosigner and that payments would still be required. This struck me as very odd since I never had the opportunity to actually see or sign the application. 

During that conversation, I requested that they provide me with a copy of the promissory note and any other documentation thats associated with this loan since I had never seen it. I was shocked when I was told by the service representatives were unable to locate the original documentation since it had been 10 years since the loans origination date. I was left with the impression that they were being quite glib after the representative said, I suggest you go looking through your grandmothers files to get that information. I will never forget those seemingly cold words since I was still in the very beginning of grieving her loss. 

However, in XX/XX/XXXX, I took another shot at obtaining the documentation after threatening to contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if they did not provide me with the information being sought after. I felt that this was appropriate given the fact that they used my NPPI data to assign an account under my name with an adverse credit remark. 

Documentation Review & Errors Combined Application and Promissory Note : Shortly after receiving the document via email, I reviewed and analyzed it to see what information was captured including terms and conditions as well. There were a few noteworthy takeaways : 1. ) My grandmothers name is listed as the primary applicant where she puts my name down as the student at the bottom of page 1.

2. ) In section 2, the student is not defined as the borrower or co-borrower.

This loan was taken out on my behalf by my late grandmother who was the only primary borrower on this loan. After her passing, XXXX XXXX XXXX erroneously assigned the remaining balance to me. 

Disbursement Notice : The very first thing I noticed was my name was listed as the XXXX of the borrowers when rather than just the student. I found this to be particularly odd considering that I was the student and not the signing applicant or co-applicant. When looking at this, Im not sure if this was a clerical error or if it was done intentionally by the company to ensure continuous payments in case the primary borrower defaults or passes away. 

Truth In Lending Disclosure Statement : Once again, I see that both my grandmothers name and mine are listed here which is very weird granted that the check was sent to her XXXX XXXX checking account. Payments towards tuition and expenses were made by her as anticipated in the same manner as if this was a XXXX loan where the student does not actually receive the physical check. This further illustrates that this was her loan. 

Conclusion After reviewing the information and performing internal research, I have arrived at the conclusion that XXXX XXXX XXXX has did not act in good faith and was negligent for the following reasons : XXXX. ) Use of students NPPI data to misassign a loon that was NOT signed by me. I also dont ever recall interfacing with XXXX XXXX XXXX before, during, or after the application process in XXXX. 

XXXX. ) If the expectation is that I was the party responsible for paying back this loan, then there should have been a formal conversation with me and the lender. Since I was not able to review the terms and conditions, my ability to help make an informed decision was compromised. Furthermore, the household signing up for a questionable financial product from a less than reputable company could have been avoided. 

XXXX. ) Took advantage of a senior citizen with early XXXX by employing the use of predatory lending practices through misrepresentation of key information regarding loan structure, costs, and terms. For example, I recall a brief conversation my grandmother and I had where explaXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX PLUS loan. It didnt make sense at the time, and I was told not to question the decision that had been vetted by her son.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation