Consumer complaint received 2015-10-17
Product: Credit reporting — 
Issue: Incorrect information on credit report — Account status
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (OR)

I had an account with a Property Management company, XXXX XXXX XXXX, for damages owed after moving out of a unit. This account was paid in full on XX/XX/XXXX. 

This account showed up after it was paid in full as a collection on XXXX credit bureau reports, Equifax and XXXX. I submitted a dispute through a very poor online system that allows only XXXX characters to describe the issue, and all they did was verify the account and put in no change. 

I contacted the original company, XXXX and XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, and the representative spent most of her time trying to justify why they had a right to turn it into a collections. The only time she addressed that it was not on my report, she said she had been submitting it to the bureaus every month since it became a " collections '', XX/XX/XXXX, and said my problem was Equifax. 

I contacted Equifax immediately after, and the representative stated it was first submitted to them XX/XX/XXXX, months after it was paid in full, and 254 days after the XXXX XXXX XXXX representative said it was submitted. 

I contacted XXXX, and the representative stated that it was first submitted to them XX/XX/XXXX, 190 days after. 

The issues I am trying to address are this:1. If this account was turned into collections XX/XX/XXXX, which I was unaware of, why did it get submitted to the credit bureaus ONLY after it was paid in full, and so long after the property management company state it became a collections? 

2. If the representative from XXXX XXXX XXXX is truthful in her saying it was submitted XX/XX/XXXX, and every month thereafter, why was the first time this account appeared on my credit report over a half year after she reported it? And not until it was paid in full by at least a month? If she is correct, then the XXXX credit bureaus failed significantly in keeping an adaquate record of what was submitted to them, which would undermine the products they offer to consumers. 

Either way, it was not on my credit report until after it was paid in full. 

If there is legitimacy to it being a collections, then this could have been resolved back XX/XX/XXXX if it was clear there was a problem. I am not sure why the representative from this company did not mention there was a problem in a phone call around this time when we were discussing payments after the other joint account holder failed to make his payment. And since they apparently use an in house collections, the name on the written letters did not change. Obviously, if it had shown up on the credit bureau reports, then it would have been clear, but it did not. It showing up only after it was paid in full alters everything that could have happened before, and seems somewhat of a credit assassination for no reason, since the account is paid. 

Beyond this, the account says it was for XXXX, but the company adjusted the amount owed on XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX. The Equifax report says the first delinquency was XX/XX/XXXX, but estimated charges on their own billing were not even put in until XX/XX/XXXX, the move out date was XX/XX/XXXX. The final statement, which is the only time I have a record of the account possibly being a collections since its a different format then previous statements and changed account # to collection ID #, says it was last updated XX/XX/XXXX, but has my final payment on it that was processed XX/XX/XXXX. 

Because of the error by the property management company or the credit agencies in reporting this account combined with the technical inaccuracies, this account should be removed from my credit report.