Consumer complaint received 2024-10-14
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account information incorrect
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (FL)

I am writing to formally dispute the inaccurate reporting of a child support arrearage on my credit report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ), Section 609. The information being reported is not only incorrect but violates my rights as laid out in a court decree. Please consider this a formal request to investigate the matter and remove the inaccurate information. 

In XXXX I had moved to Florida and after some time it was brought to my attention that my employer at the time was not deducting my child support as they were suppose to. Every time I received documentation from the Dept of Revenue, I sent it straight to my employer and they kept telling me that this would be taken care of.

However, it never got taken care of. So about the time I was changing jobs, I kept reaching out to the dept of revenue letting them know of the situtation. They informed me that I owed over {$2000.00} and I told them I was changing jobs and i needed them to send the information to my new employer. This took some time becuase the department of revenue initially sent the paperwork to the wrong location. They did not send it to the address I gave them but the address they found on google which was incorrect. It took a lot of time to actually get someone to help with getting the paperwork done properly. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, The State of XXXX  levied my bank account for over {$11000.00}. When I reached out to them to find out why they did that for that amount, they informed me that was the total due on my account. 

The reported past-due amount is associated with child support arrearages that were included in a legal court decree. According to the decree, part of my monthly payments that are being withheld from my paychecks is specifically allocated to paying off these arrearages because I found out about the child AFTER she was born. That is what accounts for the arrearages. Despite this, the state of Florida 's child support system failed to recognize the court decree due to an error in their computer system. 

When I explained to them that the decree specifically stated that our monthly payments would allocate for this arrearage because of the situation, they originally told me that if I would upload the decree they would take care of it but when that didn't work and I spoke to them again, they informed me that their computer system could not tell the difference of arrearages that had been accumulated prior to moving to florida and therefore their system would not recognize the decree. 

When I disputed this and attempted to get it corrected, the rep hung up on me and sent a message stating my account was closed and even though I only owed them {$2200.00} they took everything from my bank account which was a total of {$3500.00}. 

As a result of this failure : * I was unable to pay my rent that month and unable to buy things for my XXXX children who live with me. As a sole provider for my wife and XXXX kids I currently live with, we struggled desperately to survive this month. 

* The remaining arrearages were reported to the credit bureaus as being in collections, negatively impacting my credit score. They are now reporting a total of {$8400.00} as total due today and that should be taken care of with my monthly payments. 

* The balance continues to increase monthly, despite my payments being deducted and applied in accordance with the legal decree. 

This has been a violation of my rights, as my payments are being mishandled and improperly reported to the credit agencies. Enclosed, you will find a copy of the court decree as well as supporting documents that show my monthly payment allocations and proof of the improper bank levy. 

Please conduct a full investigation of this matter and remove the incorrect and inaccurate child support arrearages from my credit report. I expect a response within the legally mandated 30-day period. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX