Consumer complaint received 2025-11-04 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Subject : False Late Payment Reporting and Failure to Conduct a Reasonable Reinvestigation I am filing this formal complaint against Experian Information Solutions Inc., Equifax Information Services LLC, and TransUnion XXXX for the continued publication of inaccurate and unverifiable information within my consumer credit files, despite multiple formal dispute submissions. Each bureau has received supporting documents, including proof of timely payments, bank receipts, and screenshots from my own reports that confirm that the disputed XXXX account was paid, closed, and carried a XXXX balance. However, all three agencies continue to list a late payment for the same period even though the payment grid itself clearly shows timely payments and a XXXX past-due balance. This practice directly violates my rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ), and the Metro 2 data reporting standards established by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

The account in question, XXXX XXXXXXXX, is a closed unsecured installment account with a balance of XXXX and no active terms or obligations. Each bureaus reporting shows contradictory data such as Closed/Paid/Zero Balance alongside XXXX late notations, which is factually impossible under XXXX XXXX field definitions for Account Status and Payment Rating. These coding inconsistencies violate the FCRAs requirement to maintain maximum possible accuracy, specifically under 607 ( b ) and 623 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( A ). A late-payment designation on an account that has been closed and settled misrepresents the consumers payment behavior and artificially damages the XXXX score, creating an inaccurate picture of default risk. None of the credit bureaus nor the data furnisher has produced original statements, payment ledgers, or certified records to substantiate the alleged delinquency, which constitutes non-compliance with FCRA 611 ( a ) requiring a reasonable reinvestigation supported by documentary verification. 

Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have also engaged in behavior that obstructs the dispute process by issuing delay letters implying the need for power-of-attorney documentation or by refusing to process disputes allegedly due to third-party assistance. Such delay tactics are unlawful under FCRA 1681i. The FCRA grants every consumer the right to challenge inaccurate data directly or with the assistance of an advisor, and no statute authorizes a bureau to delay or reject a dispute based on assumed third-party involvement. This stalling practice amounts to willful non-compliance and constitutes a form of data suppression that hinders consumers from exercising their statutory rights. In each submission, I provided valid identification and explicitly instructed the bureaus under 16 CFR 682.3 not to retain personal ID copies after verification, yet there is no record that this instruction was followed. 

The false reporting of this late payment has caused substantial harm, including damage to creditworthiness, emotional distress, and increased costs of borrowing. Because the account was paid and closed, its coding should reflect Pays As Agreed Current or be deleted entirely. Continuing to report a late status contradicts both the factual payment history and the XXXX XXXX CRRG rule requiring consistent and truthful reporting across all bureaus. The data also violates FDCPA 807 ( 8 ), which prohibits communicating or publishing information known or that should be known to be false. These combined violations show a pattern of disregard for lawful reporting obligations and undermine public trust in the accuracy of consumer credit data. 

Furthermore, each bureaus records show inconsistencies in the Date Opened, Date Last Active, and Date of Last Payment fields. For example, TransUnion lists the Date Opened as XX/XX/XXXX, while Experian and Equifax both list XX/XX/XXXX, demonstrating unsynchronized data sets. The reported Last Reported dates also differ, with Equifax showing XX/XX/XXXX while Experian and TransUnion report XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX requires uniform reporting of these time-based fields to prevent cross-bureau mismatches, and the conflicting information across all three bureaus indicates systemic data handling failures. Such discrepancies make the entire tradeline unverifiable under FCRA 611 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( A ), warranting deletion in full. 

It is critical to note that the alleged XXXX late payment for XX/XX/XXXX is unsupported by any transactional record. The attached payment grids from both Experian and TransUnion show XXXX statuses before and after that month, indicating uninterrupted positive history. Reporting a delinquency in isolation contradicts the actual record of payments and constitutes reckless disregard for accuracy. This single misreported mark continues to suppress my XXXX and XXXX scores, limiting access to fair credit terms and causing tangible financial injury.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief