Consumer complaint received 2024-04-04
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Investigation took more than 30 days
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (WA)

To whom it may concern - I'm emailing you regarding a disputed debt with Affirm. I've been battling this situation for nearly a year after making a purchase from XXXX that they claim is non-refundable.

I have two goals with this communication : * Resolve the debt by paying it off completely.

* Have Affirm make an official request to XXXX to remove the charge-off from my credit report. The XXXX XXXX  department said they would happily remove it upon receiving such a request. 

The notes of this dispute are recorded initially with XXXX ( the original company that sold me the product ), then with Affirm Inc, then with XXXX, and then again with Affirm Inc . 

Here are the details of the situation : * In XXXX of XXXX, I purchased a high end product from XXXX which included fitness coaching, nutritional coaching, and supplements. XXXX used Affirm Inc to complete my purchase and handle the financing which was ~ {$2200.00}. My monthly payment was to be ~ {$86.00}. 
* Within a few weeks of purchasing the product ( before my first payment was due ), we experienced a family trauma which prevented me from using the product. I didn't believe this would be a problem given my understanding that the product was fully refundable and given that I never engaged with any of the coaching, nor did I receive any products or services. 
* I contacted XXXX and explained my extenuating personal circumstances, making the following request : " Please refund my purchase or put the purchase on hold while I sort things out with my family. I may be able to re-engage at some point in the future. '' * XXXX refused to refund the purchase, saying that their typical money back guarantee does not apply to the high-end product that I purchased. The product I purchased is only refundable if you engage in the program and show XXXX results after XXXX  days. They refused to negotiate further and stood firm on collecting money from me on a product I was not able to use. 
* I moved the dispute to Affirm, who also refused to negotiate with me. 
* In the midst of this fully disputed debt, Affirm charged off the loan to XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I had no idea how damaging this would be to my credit report. I have never had something like this happen. 
* In XXXX of XXXX, I received a communication from XXXX which gave me the option to dispute the debt. Immediately disputed the debt with XXXX and received confirmation that it was disputed. As of XX/XX/XXXX, I had received nothing from XXXX about the status of the investigation and nothing about instructions for resolving the debt. 
* I first discovered the problem on my credit report when I went to do a soft pull of my credit to apply for a home equity loan ( HELOC ) in XX/XX/XXXX. I was declined, which shocked me. I went to view my credit report with XXXX and saw the damage that the charge-off had caused to my credit. 
* I then contact XXXX to try and negotiate resolution of the debt and to have them make an official request to XXXX that it be removed from my credit report. I explained the specific circumstances which created the problem. 
* XXXX decided, upon hearing the specific nature of my dispute, to send the debt back to Affirm XXXX Inc. XXXX sent me an official email on XX/XX/XXXX, which said the following : Hi XXXX XXXX XXXX will not report this account in collections. We have no knowledge on what Affirm , Inc. has done, but we can assure you that Affirm, Inc. will be updated on your most current balance/that your account has been paid in full. You can go to XXXX  and click on " Get Your Free Credit Report '' to get information on how to obtain a free copy of your credit report annually. 
We would like to inform you that we are no longer collecting the balance on your account and have transferred your account back to Affirm , Inc..

Please feel free to contact Affirm, Inc. directly if you have further questions regarding the balance. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  * I have sent and filed the above email with Affirm on multiple occasions. Despite this, Affirm has insisted that XXXX still owns the debt. 
* I sent XXXX the following email on XX/XX/XXXX : To whom it may concern - After investigating " pay to delete '' solutions with XXXX XXXX  ( the original company ) and Affirm ( the financing company ), I have been directed back to XXXX to resolve this situation. 
Given that the charge-off mark on my credit report is incorrect because of a disputed charge for a service that was never delivered, I'm now looking to negotiate a " pay to delete '' option. 
Let me know my best course of action, Regards, XXXX XXXX * XXXX responded on XX/XX/XXXX with a similar note to the one above, stating that they have updated Affirm and that my account with XXXX was " paid in full '' and that the debt was now back with Affirm. 
* I have since contacted Affirm on multiple occasions to resolve this debt, to no avail, because they can't find it. I literally could not pay it if I wanted to. Indeed, on the last three calls I made to Affirm customer service, I stated unequivocally that I was ready to pay off the debt and they were not able to service my request. 
* As of XX/XX/XXXX, I have submitted a dispute with XXXX with the following notation : " I never received the product. It was charged off and then sent back to Affirm. As of XX/XX/XXXX Affirm does not have the account so I can't pay even if I wanted to. This needs to come off my credit report. '' I have spoken with the XXXX XXXX department about this case in detail and, sadly, they agreed that I should probably retain specialized legal counsel to resolve this situation. 

My request is that you escalate this urgent and critical request to the " powers that be '' at Affirm so that I can complete a pay-to-delete resolution of this debt ( paying it completely and having Affirm send an official note to XXXX to have the charge-off removed from my report ). It is an incorrect and damaging mark on my credit report because of a disputed charge on a product that I never received.