Consumer complaint received 2015-09-27
Product: Credit reporting — 
Issue: Credit reporting company's investigation — Investigation took too long
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc. (IL)

This is in regards to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX Account Number XXXX .... I defaulted on the terms on this account. On XXXX 2015 my situation was getting better and I was ready to take control over my debt. This is the first account I tried paying. I contacted the creditor by calling the number provided on my credit report. I was told they had no information/record on this account anymore. That this account was being shown on their system as paid. They could n't help me. They gave me a different number to call. ( XXXX ) XXXX. I was told they could n't take payment because this account show up in their system as paid. and that it had been sold to a collection agency. I was given information to contact the collection agency. I called many many times. Different times of the day because I kept getting an answering machine. I left voicemails and asked to get a call back. Never did. I disputed this account because I am trying to fix my credit and tried paying it since XXXX of this year. I was n't able to get help on how to contact the collection agency since I did n't receive any mail from them. And the original creditor would n't take my money. So I used that money to pay for other bills I needed to take care of. I had asked for this account to be removed from my report since I was trying to fix my error and pay it off and they did n't provide me with correct/current information to do so. or to at least mark it as " zero balance '' since that is what i was told by them. " We ca n't take your money because this account shows up as paid off and closed and we no longer have access to this file because it is no longer ours '' My family and I are pretty much homeless at the moment because we have to fix our credit to be able to purchase a home. The reason I had defaulted was because my family and I were going through a very rough time.My son was diagnosed with XXXX ( XXXX ) and Had a XXXX that caused XXXX. My husband and I hold decent paying jobs. the only thing affecting us now is our credit scores. and this company did n't provide the proper information for us to take care of it the right way. Since we paid off everything that was on our credit report besides this account, our credit score was getting better. My score just dropped again because on XXXX/XXXX/2015 this company flagged my account and added a remark once again. Charged off as bad debt/Purchased by another lender. It has been over 5 months since I disputed this. And they just now take some " action '' on their mistake? causing my efforts to fix this meaningless. i know that time can have a positive effect on my credit if this company would 've done this back on XXXX. It is not right that they play with my time and take delayed actions that are affecting my family and I in such a way as to prevent us from correcting our actions and taking responsibility. My husband is a XXXX XXXX, my family and I are hard working citizens. All we are trying to do is live the American Dream and reach our goal of providing a Home to our children that desperately need it. We are living from XXXX relative 's home to another trying to fix our credit to Purchase a Mortgage loan with a decent interest rate and My credit score is playing the biggest role here. Please help us.