Consumer complaint received 2024-02-16 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
I transferred a balance on XX/XX/XXXX. I attempted to set up online autopay via the account verification process on XX/XX/XXXX. I made a second attempt to autopay via account verification on XX/XX/XXXX. When I realized that the app verification process failed twice, I called in on XX/XX/XXXX to make the payment by phone. The XX/XX/XXXX phone payment resulted in an error with an extra 0 being added by bank associate # 1. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called in a 2nd time because I realized the prior payment by phone resulted in a late fee and 30 days late on my credit report. Associate # 2 took my payment over the phone, and removed the late fee that had resulted amidst the technological issue with the bank verification process and associate # 1. She stated she would submit an internal claim for removal of the 30 day late with the credit bureau. 

In XXXX I called in to a ) check on the status of the decision with the credit bureau, and b ) for help with the app because I was unable to make any online payments as the checking account verification process had not been resolved to date ). Bank associate # 3 told me he could see the calls from the XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX calls, but did not see that the internal dispute had been created so that the late credit bureau reporting could be removed. Bank associate # 3 identified the issue with associate # 1 entering an extra 0 with the XXXX  account. He was able to process my payment with the correctly recorded XXXX  account number ( without the extra 0 ; he was also able to confirm it was the same XXXX  account digits that I had attempted with the online verification process. This associate # 3 validated my multiple attempts with the verification process and on the call he said " i know what the problem is and how to correct the issue ; this happens sometimes. '' He subsequently manually verified my XXXX  account on his end, circumventing the customer process, which resulted in my ability to set up autopay and make payments online through the bank app myself moving forward. 

I called into the credit card customer service on XX/XX/XXXX to for an update on the internal claim for the negative credit bureau reporting. After speaking with 2 associates who were unable to find any such internal claim/dispute, I went up to a XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX branch to speak with a manager. The branch manager confirmed all of the issues I had, several calls, but said the online associates did not complete the correct form for an internal investigation, which is how a decision is truly made for removing negative credit bureau reporting. She stated she properly filed the dispute and gave me a case # for tracking. We emailed back and forth a couple times where she said the internal investigator needed more information! I emailed her everything that had occurred leading up to this point. I communicated that the root cause of my issue was the flaw with the bank app 's account verification process, which prevented me from being able to make a payment myself in XXXX and XXXX, which resulted in the need to call in to make the payments. The last email that I sent to the bank manager on XXXX has not resulted in a response. 

My credit score has dropped XXXX points over the 30 day late that XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX reported. My credit was XXXX, and it is now XXXX. I am unable to get approved for a home loan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief