Consumer complaint received 2023-03-08
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY
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:
Since XXXX of last year, I have tried multiple times to work with all three of the credit score companies ( XXXX, XXXX, and Equifax ) to understand why my credit score went from 733 in XXXX to 689 in XXXX of XXXX, and then why it decreased for a second time this month from 700 to below 690. The credit card companies have at all times attempted to block my efforts and have provided me with false information. 

My first attempt was in XXXX with XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX told me the decrease was due to a credit card closure and late payment that occurred in XXXX. I had already been adversely impacted by this late payment and closure two years ago in XXXX, so I wanted to know why my account was being negatively impacted for a second time, two years later. At first none of the three companies could understand or explain the problem. They told me that the information was verified as accurate. I had to have multiple conversations to explain that I was not disputing that the information was accurate, but rather that the closure and late payment should not affect my score for a second time a full two years after the fact. To be quite frank, many of the customer service representatives do not have a thorough grasp of the English language so I had to have multiple calls with multiple customer service representatives ( at XXXX and also at XXXX and Equifax, where I filed follow on complaints ). When the agencies finally understood my concern and realized I was correct, they then changed their stories and said that the issue was due to a XXXX account that belongs to my father. My father has this account on auto-pay. I am an authorized user on this account. I spoke with and filed complaints with XXXX, Equifax, and XXXX, stating that my fathers account was on auto-pay and the fact that he has a higher score than I do means that association with him should raise my score, not lower it. None of these companies made any attempt to correct my falsely deflated 689 scored and simply ignored me. They refused to do anything to help me. Since that time and over the course of a few months, my score increased because I pay all of my accounts on time, have not closed any accounts, have no outstanding loans, and am financially sound. After my score finally broke 700 last month, it randomly dropped again in XXXX for no apparent reason. Earlier this week, I called asking why my score had decreased and the companies said it was because I had late payments on two accounts and another closed account. I have not closed an account since the closure in XXXX. All of my accounts are paid off in full on time every month. I do not own the accounts that they say belong to me. They are refusing to share the account numbers. They are refusing to do anything to fix this mistake. As for the unexplained unverified decrease in XXXX of XXXX, all three companies are simply throwing up their hands and taking no responsibility for the fact that they still can not explain why my score decreased in XXXX of XXXX. The customer representatives keep telling me that they can not do anything to change a credit score in the past because it is in the past. I am trying to take out a mortgage to buy a home and part of me thinks that this is an awful attempt to decrease my credit score so I have to pay a higher interest on my mortgage. Talking with the credit reporting agencies, it also sounds like XXXX XXXX XXXX  is reporting my information incorrectly. I am filing this complaint because my issues with these three agencies and XXXX XXXX XXXX have risen to a level of kafka-esque absurdity. I believe that you can help me, but if you can not and I am forced to take out a more expensive loan because of this unprofessional nonsense, I will put my XXXX law degree to use, sue, and demand discovery because what these four companies are doing is not only incompetent, it is also criminal and most definitely evil.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation