Consumer complaint received 2025-07-04 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services — Billing dispute for services
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: KY

Complaint narrative:
We received an email from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating we had to used our credit card to keep it open. We had not used this card for and for a long, long time. We were unable to find our cards to use them, so made a call to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to ask them to send new cards so we could keep the account active. They told us they needed to close that account and reissue us new cards with a different account number. We agreed to keep the account open because we understood that closing accounts could negatively effect our credit score, which was excellent. We received the cards and in XXXX we purchased groceries with them just to maintain the account. This is the only charge we made on the new credit cards. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, we received an email from XXXX ( proving they had the correct address ) with a headline stating " We have a past-due balance ''! As we had " surprise '' out-of-town company, we did not see the email until XX/XX/XXXX. Immediately ( XXXX XXXX ), we called XXXX and MADE THE PAYMENT ON THE PHONE that night ( they show a XX/XX/XXXX date it was after midnight where it was received )! We received a letter from XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, which was not yet delivered before the payment was made and our conversations with XXXX customer service, who was supposed to take care of late fees and interest rates. The letter said they had sent an EMAIL that was returned to them saying our latest statement was ready for review. They asked us to check our email address that was with them. As they had sent us an email to the correct address on XX/XX/XXXX, we knew that had our correct email. The notice said paper billing would be resumed if another email was returned. 
Apparently, their email invoices were sent on XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. They did not send a letter to us about wanting email updates until XX/XX/XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, we went to XXXX 's site to make sure our transaction had been posted. It was. So was our credit score! Our Credit Score, which was well over XXXX had dropped to XXXX!! We have worked so hard for the past several decades to make sure our credit was great when we got into our senior years, knowing we would need to make life decisions for ourselves and others by that time. And now, because of trying to keep a credit card open so it would not negatively impair our credit, XXXX 's ineptness has hurt us at just the time we were obtaining financing to roof our house and put in new windows and had five grandchildren graduating from college. We are crushed that this has happened and do not feel it is in anyway our fault! 
We wrote XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( attached ) and filed a dispute. They claim reporting accuracy on XX/XX/XXXX. But, the missed payments were caused by their incompetence and lack of complying with credit reporting laws. We also filed a dispute with all three Credit Bureaus. We received a card back from XXXX  saying they would review information from the vendor. XXXX  sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX showing an update from 2 months to 1 month late in XXXX and current payments all the way back to XXXX on our payment history. They are showing a XXXX credit score as of today. Again, this should not be and is not our fault. Losing over a XXXX points on our credit score, when we were attempting to maximize our credit score, is a crime. They are stealing something from us that we have worked long and hard for and not accepting their own problem. We need your help! 

This is the letter we sent XXXX with all personal information removed : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX, DE XXXX To Whom It May Concern : Paying ALL bills on time and establishing an excellent credit rating have always been of the utmost importance to our family, and we have worked hard to do just that. Our credit rating has been in the XXXX for a long, long time until XXXX managed to ruin that for us within the past few days. We are heartsick and feel cheated and hurt because of a company that we always thought highly of. I guess we were wrong. 
We paid our XXXX XXXX card off a long while back. At the end of XXXX, we received an email from XXXX saying, Use your card in the next 50 days if you want to keep your account open. As we worked hard to pay other credit cards off, we had not been using the XXXX card. We noted that we should buy something within their time period to keep the card open, as we did not want to close it. We had filed our XXXX credit cards away with our taxes and they were not readily available to us. My wife called to ask if we could get XXXX to send us new cards. They considered them lost and wanted to issue us a new number. We had the old number and card for many years and wanted to keep it, but they insisted upon closing that account and issuing us new cards. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, we received an email saying, A replacement card will come in a plain envelope within the next few days. They arrived in the mail as stated. 
Time went by, and we did not think to use the card until we were shopping at XXXX XXXX evening and, at the checkout, made a quick decision to use the new card to ensure that the account was active. This was on XX/XX/XXXX, and the amount was {$210.00}. We used the card, it went through without a problem, and we went on with our lives. 
A few nights ago ( XXXX ), my wife was looking for something on her computer and ran across an email from XXXX that had come in at XXXXXXXX XXXX. ( not during business hours ) with the headline, You have a past-due balance. She opened it up to see what it could be. Even by going to the site, we could not recognize the charge, so of course, we went back to the online statements as we had never received a statement of our bill, found the charge, and remembered that we had made it at XXXX. AGAIN, the problem was that we had NEVER received a bill from XXXX and had forgotten all about using the card! There was not an XXXX bill or a XXXX bill. We checked back on our email and looked through our bill file on our desk. We receive physical mail daily in our home mailbox and handle any bills we get when they come in. I believe you can pull any of our credit scores from any of the companies and see that we ALWAYS pay our bills and they are NEVER late! We are 100 % sure that we have NOT RECEIVED A BILL FROM CHASE during XXXX or XXXX, yet the email said we were 30 days over! 
It was very late when my wife found this, but I immediately ( XXXX XXXX ) called XXXX and talked to two people who spoke poor English, a third who hung up on me after hearing my story, and then finally getting to a supervisor named XXXX XXXX, who could help me. He admitted it was a mistake and error on the part of XXXX. He even asked me a physical address and an email address. As I remember, he stated that information was NOT there ( although, they had managed to mail us new cards and email us with a late notice much too late to prevent this situation ). He did remove the late charges and the interest charges, which we appreciated, but we did not realize at the time how this had HURT OUR CREDIT SCORE. I paid him over the phone, paying the account IN FULL, before hanging up. He had told us it would take a few days to show up on the website, so we waited. 
On XXXX. XXXX, I went to the website to check on the transaction. It appeared to be fine ( with a balance of XXXX cents ) on the first page, but on some of the other pages, it showed us still with a balance and late charges. BUT, the biggest thing was that it showed our credit score at XXXX! It was down way over XXXX points from last week, and XXXX was the ONLY difference! We were distraught by this! We are in the process of getting a home equity loan to roof our home and put a transmission into our car, which negatively impacts our attempts to do that. 
I called back to XXXX today ( XXXX. XXXX. XXXX ) to try to get this straightened out. After getting hung up on ( as I did the first night I called ), I finally was able to talk to someone by the name of XXXX, who would not give me her last name. She told me it was company policy NOT TO REPAIR the credit score once sent in, but you could send in a letter to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, Delaware, describing my dispute, I asked if that would correct the issue. She said it wouldnt do any good, but I could try. I find it ridiculous that a senior company manager would proceed to advise a customer to submit a dispute that she knows would not be respected or resolved. This is really discouraging for a family who has worked very hard to build a great credit score and a company like XXXX reporting an overdue charge they didnt bill for. This would seem to be against CARD Act and especially the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 
It seems that you had our physical address, as was evident when you sent the new cards, and you had our email address, as was evident when you mailed the over 30-day late notice, but you DID NOT use either one to send an XXXX or XXXX billing to us so that we could pay it. I have gone through everything and am looking for anything at all from you. The late notice was my most recent email, and before that, the email about sending the new credit cards. We check our mail daily, and my bills go into a physical file for payment. I would NOT have missed two months of bills. 
Further information supporting our position on this is a letter we received in the past few days from XXXX XXXX XXXX dated XXXX. In this letter, XXXX informed us that they had sent us a statement via email that had been returned. The letter was asking that I sign in and update my email address! The letter further states that if another email statement is returned, XXXX will resume sending paper statements by mail! This is an admission that electronic statements had not been going through and paper statements were not being sent. Starting paper statements was also part of the discussion on XXXX with supervisor XXXX XXXX, where he said he would begin paper statements again. This is the same conversation where he asked for our email address. This happened long after the payment information was sent to the credit bureaus! It is clear that XXXX was negligent in sending us proper billing statements, CLEAR VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL CREDIT REGULATIONS. There is NO justification for sending late payment information to the credit bureaus and damaging our credit! 
We are asking that you take the time to review our accounts ( old and new ), our history, and credit scores and see that this was a mistake that we should not be punished for. If XXXX XXXX had been received in any form, it would have been paid in a timely manner. Our payment history proves this. 
We look forward to hearing from you soon as this is making a big difference in our lives. 

Sincerely,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation