Consumer complaint received 2021-04-05
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account information incorrect
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. (WA)

Over the past two months, I have been paying down consumer credit rapidly to increase my credit score as much as possible, to obtain the best rates/terms available for a vehicle purchase this month. ( I ordered a custom vehicle, and it will be arriving shortly ) Specifically, as an XXXX with XXXX XXXX degrees, I hold a lot of student loan debt ( nearly {$500000.00} ). For this reason, all debts on my credit report can cause dramatic score changes. 

During this process, I reviewed my credit report for accounts that may be closed due to inactivity. Because this would decrease my available credit, and increase my credit utilization, I began using these credit cards for purchases, and then paying off the card prior to a statement being issued ( avoiding interest & credit reporting ). After trying to use my XXXX credit card, I realized it had never been activated. I called XXXX, explained what I was doing ( using the card so that it wouldn't close during this important time ), and requested the card be activated. The representative activated the card, and used it for maybe 3 purchases. 

Last week, I reached out to XXXX again. I explained to the representative that I was considering using my line of credit to pay off another credit card, but I would repay the line of credit within a few days of taking out the money. I explained that a statement would be generated for this credit card a few days before my scheduled payday, and that I really needed this card to show up as paid off on my credit report due to my upcoming purchase, and that once I was paid I would then immediately repay the line credit. I confirmed that if I took out the line of credit funds, I would not be charged interest if it were paid back before the statement date. 

We then discussed the statement date for the XXXX credit card, and if I paid by that date I would avoid interest, and the statement would show a XXXX balance ( for credit reporting ). I believe this date is XXXX XXXXish. I was not worried, because it was my intent to pay it off around the XXXX, However, on XX/XX/2021, XXXX reported the credit card balance to my credit report, and my score did drop. I called XXXX on XX/XX/2021 to discuss this, and I was told that XXXX does not report the statement balance ( like every other financial institution ), but it picks a random date throughout the month and reports that day 's balance ( again, NOT THE STATEMENT BALANCE ). 

I explained to the representative that I had spoke with XXXX previously, and it should have been clear that the credit reporting was important to me, and the representative should have told me that the balance is reported on random days. This is why I requested information about statement dates - having a balance on a statement doesn't matter if you pay the statement in full - UNLESS YOU CARE ABOUT THE CREDIT REPORTING, and I told the representative that I was making moves to be sure balances were not reported to my credit report. 

I am beyond frustrated that XXXX has dropped my credit score, after I have done so much to maintain a score that would keep me in Tier A financing. As a resolution, XXXX offered to write me a letter to the lender stating that the balance is paid off ( because it is ), but that letter is not going to improve my credit score. 

As a side note, I want to make it clear that it took two months for XXXX to report any payments on my current car loan. While that negatively affected my score ( keeping a high current balance to loan amount ratio ), they waited until I made two payments to actually report any change. I hold a balance on their credit card BETWEEN statements for a very short period, and they randomly report that. 

This is a huge consumer issue because consumers need predictability to be able to protect their credit reports. Credit reporting is used as a tool in job hiring, insurance rates, etc. We can not take action to best protect what is reported to the credit bureaus if we do not know when or what will be reported. Further, XXXX stated they can not update the reporting or even remove it because they have to report what is " accurate. '' This is completely false - I work as a consumer protection/regulator attorney in the financial industry, and I know industry standard is to report STATEMENT BALANCES and companies can update/remove reporting when there is an issue.