Consumer complaint received 2023-04-20
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem — Investigation took more than 30 days
Company: BMO HARRIS BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a response from Bank of the West 's credit dispute process refusing to correct the payment history reported to the Credit Bureaus showing that this account 's XXXX payment was made 30 days late. 

This account has been opened for more than 3 years with no late payment history since the inception of the loan. In XXXX ( approximate ), Bank of the West ( BOTW ) was acquired by another bank. Prior to this acquisition, the monthly payment was made by us to BOTW via wire transfer from our bank directly to the HELOC account. Post acquisition, a change in process occurred whereby BOTW would accept payment ONLY by a direct debit ( by BOTW ) from the checking account which was required by BOTW to have in order to have obtained the HELOC.

At issue is that this direct debit from BOTW occurs at midnight on the XXXX of the month and only on XXXX of the month at XXXX It does not appear that BOTW verifies the funds are available in the required checking account within the stated grace period and before reporting a late payment to the credit bureaus. 

Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX the full payment amount was wired into the BOTW checking account and available to the bank to withdraw for payment. Unbeknownst to me- nor should the burden be entirely mine to ensure BOTW pulls money available to them to cure the owed payment before reporting a damaging 30 day late payment to the credit bureaus. 

I provided to BOTW credit dispute department confirmation that the wire was sent and received by BOTW within the first five business days of the due month. 

I believe the bank failed to act responsibly by : 1 ) verifying if the payment was available in the designated account before the end of the grace period ; 2 ) verifying the payment was available in the designated account before the end of the month or time period before reporting a missed payment to the credit bureaus. BOTW 's practice of limiting the timeframe by which they verify payment is made to midnight of the first business day of the month and does not appear to verify within a reasonable amount of time the payment is available creates a harming situation for a customer who is making their payment ; making their payment in the manner designated by the bank ; and made within the stipulated grace period and within the time frame allowable before a negative payment is reported to the bureaus. 

The BOTW actions are now creating secondary harm through increased interest rates and higher costs for purchases relying on our credit bureau score.

I am requesting that BOTW correct the late payment report to the credit bureaus. I also encourage, as a matter of public policy, to review this practice by BOTW. 

Thank you.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation