Consumer complaint received 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account information incorrect
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I have XXXX active and XXXX closed credit card accounts with XXXX XXXX. I have had these cards for many years, always in good standing. In XXXX, I fell behind on my payments with XXXX XXXX. Due to the XXXX XXXX pandemic, I lost my employment in XXXX. After exhausting my savings throughout XXXX and XXXX, to keep up with my bills and credit cards, I ended up falling behind. I began to accumulate late payments on my XXXX XXXX accounts towards the middle of XXXX. While I tried my best to catch up and make at least some payments every month, it became unmanageable due to the loss of income and my savings spent on bills. By XXXX, even with making some payments, I kept falling further behind due to my loss of income and loss of all savings, along with the accumulating interest, late fees, and increased minimum payments on these accounts. Throughout this difficult time, I was in constant communication with XXXX XXXX, and I was always trying to resolve the balances. I never denied my debt, but I did struggle to figure out a way to pay it because of the financial burden I was experiencing during that difficult time. In XXXX, my accounts became several months past due and I was overwhelmed by the lack of options that were available to get my accounts current again. XXXX XXXX had no solutions, even though we were in a pandemic and I never had any late payments prior. In XXXX of XXXX, XXXX of my XXXX XXXX accounts charged off. I continued to stay in contact with XXXX XXXX throughout this time period, but they had no options available to help. I was financially unable to resolve the XXXX charged off accounts at the time and they went to collections. I have since worked out a payment agreement and have been paying on time for over 6 months now. Being that the balances were lower and my financial situation started to improve, I was able to resolve the other XXXX accounts by XXXX of XXXX, preventing a charge off on both accounts. Both accounts have never been late since. However, XXXX charge offs, and several late payments are being reported to my credit report. During the time period of these delinquencies, XXXX XXXX was supposed to work with me and offer some kind of relief. All other creditors worked with me and had options, specifically for those affected by the pandemic. XXXX XXXX offered me no help and reported all of the late payments and charge offs. They continued to charge me late fees and interest, making it even harder to keep up with payments. It was as if they had no sympathy for a customer, who had been with them, in good standing, for many years. XXXX years later, even after resolving all XXXX accounts, this still has a very heavy impact on my credit. I wrote so many letters to XXXX XXXX, requesting they remove the negative remarks, due to reporting this during the pandemic, but they do not help me. As a consumer, I have protections and I have rights. XXXX XXXX refused to offer any assistance, during a pandemic, even though I called them many times before my accounts became delinquent. They reported all late payments and charge offs, with no regard for humanity and a situation that was out of my control. They deny me assistance with removing this from my credit report, even after I wrote so many letters, pleading to them. I proved my responsibility for my debt by paying it and keeping up with it going forward, over the past 2 years. I have always taken full responsibility for my debt, and I feel I am being punished for trying my hardest in a situation that was out of my control. I have worked very hard to get things back on track, resolved my accounts with XXXX XXXX, and would hate for this unavoidable circumstance to stay with me for several more years. Since this difficult time period, I have since been able to secure permanent full time employment in my field as a social worker, and while my financial situation has improved, it feels that all of the hard work it took me to get here is useless, due to the effects that these negative remarks are having on my credit. The negative reporting of these charge offs and late payments is making it very difficult for me to get approved for a car loan and a mortgage. According to the CARES act, they were never supposed to be reported and XXXX XXXX was not supposed to deny me assistance during the pandemic. Please help me get this resolved. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief