Student loan duplicate reporting to Transunion - need help!

[Anonymous]

I'll try my hardest to keep this short, as over the last few months I've had to rehash my experience numerous times over phone, email, standard mail, etc.

I have a SINGLE student loan account with ACS. Currently in repayment, in good standing. I noticed it was being reported twice to Transunion. I found this out because it is dropping my Transunion score by about 20 points just because of the additional (about $10,000) credit exposure. The account is reported only once to both Equifax and Experian.

It would take too much time to go into the detail to explain the level of ineptness I have dealt with at both ACS and TU.

Where it stands now: The folks at TU agree with me that it appears ACS is, for one reason or another, reporting the same account twice. ALL the info is the same - origination date, balance, last payment, and terms. The only things that are different are the account name. One is 'CHELA/USA INC' and the other is 'PREP STUDENT LOAN' but they are BOTH c/o ACS at the same address. When I first disputed, the original creditor was the same, but for some reason after the initial dispute one of them changed. TU has told me they can't do anything else for me and they suggested that I contact the Federal Trade Commission.

After much back and forth, the folks at ACS have told me that they need the "complete account number of the duplicate loan."  TU now tells me, and has verified over the phone with me, that the numbers are identical. The kid even told me the account number without me telling him first (pretty sure that's a big no-no). But they can't send me documentation for security purposes. A supervisor at ACS says that even if they blank out the first few letters and show that the last few are the same that might  be sufficient, but TU won't do it. ACS refuses to take my word for it, and TU refuses to provided documentation.

What can I do at this point? I am willing to hire an attorney over this matter just for the pure satisfaction of it. I've wasted WAY too much time on this already. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'll try my hardest to keep this short, as over the last few months I've had to rehash my experience numerous times over phone, email, standard mail, etc.

I have a SINGLE student loan account with ACS. Currently in repayment, in good standing. I noticed it was being reported twice to Transunion. I found this out because it is dropping my Transunion score by about 20 points just because of the additional (about $10,000) credit exposure. The account is reported only once to both Equifax and Experian.

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Welcome to the forums !   Can I ask where you are getting your TU score ?  Is it a FICO score ?    

FICO scoring weighs installment loan utilization much less significantly than revolving utilization, so it is likely not hurting your FICO score much at all.

[Anonymous]

I just doublechecked and my TU is 28 points lower than Equifax & Experian, which are exactly the same. I'm getting my scores through the Credit Tracker that is offered through my Discover Card account. That's the only place I've ever checked my scores. I've never thought to check the FICO scores since most creditors, like for auto loan lending, supposedly use their own formulas and weights to come up with a different score regardless.

And just an update, I called TU again, and their agent told me there was absolutely nothing that they could do, only offered to redispute. I said no since I've fruitlessly disputed several times. He said there was absolutely no supervisor I could speak with, but when I agreed to let someone call me back, he told me it would be a supervisor!

I called back to see if I would have luck with another agent. She put me on hold and talked to the original agent. She said that he looked into it after we got off and he could tell it was a duplicate and that he removed it from my account. I was shocked and expressed it, and she asked if I would like them to put it back on the account so I could dispute it. I said no, but that I had been told numerous times that all TU could do is report what the creditors provide. She said that since they were in the "Priority Department" that they had the authority and that I would receive confirmation via letter within 5-7 days.

Does this sound fishy to anybody? I mean, can they really do that? I know they can if the creditor doesn't reply within 30 days, but this was not the case. Plus, I told the guy I didn't want to dispute, so he just deletes it? Just to be nice? Kind of sounds like they just wanted to get me off the phone.

I know it may only be 28 points, and it is still a good score, but at this point a lot of it is principle. It would be different if I weren't managing my credit well, but this is something simple that has nothing to do with me but should be able to be addressed quickly and easily.

[pizzadude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I just doublechecked and my TU is 28 points lower than Equifax & Experian, which are exactly the same. I'm getting my scores through the Credit Tracker that is offered through my Discover Card account. That's the only place I've ever checked my scores. I've never thought to check the FICO scores since most creditors, like for auto loan lending, supposedly use their own formulas and weights to come up with a different score regardless.

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These scores are definately not FICO scores ~ many auto lenders will pull a FICO or an auto~enhanced FICO score, also all mortgage lenders will pull FICO scores.   

I really don't believe that this is negatively impacting your FICO score so I wouldn't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

I looked into it a bit further, and you are correct, the Credit Scoretracker does not appear to be based on actual FICO scores. I did just pull my FICO for TU and Experian. Both were slightly higher than what Credit Scoretracker provided, but the TU was still 24 points lower than the Equifax. I can only assume this is from the additional ten grand in exposure that my TU report shows.

[Anonymous]

So I just looked through the TU report that came with the score that I ordered from MyFICO. Suprisingly, the duplicate account is gone. Could it be updated that quickly? I also pulled my report from TU's website and the duplicate account is gone off that one also.

I'm assuming if they did delete the duplicate today, and it did update and my reports are reflecting accurately, that the lower TU score may not update automatically and I could expect I higher TU score soon?

If this is the case, I guess this should be a lesson to us all that most of these companies can do whatever they want even if they say otherwise. I suppose the trick is MAKING them want to do something.

[pizzadude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I looked into it a bit further, and you are correct, the Credit Scoretracker does not appear to be based on actual FICO scores. I did just pull my FICO for TU and Experian. Both were slightly higher than what Credit Scoretracker provided, but the TU was still 24 points lower than the Equifax. I can only assume this is from the additional ten grand in exposure that my TU report shows.

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Take a look at the Credit Scoring 101 thread in this link, it should help explain the various scores that are being sold:    http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Frequently-Requested-Threads/td-p/19320

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I just looked through the TU report that came with the score that I ordered from MyFICO. Suprisingly, the duplicate account is gone. Could it be updated that quickly? I also pulled my report from TU's website and the duplicate account is gone off that one also.

I'm assuming if they did delete the duplicate today, and it did update and my reports are reflecting accurately, that the lower TU score may not update automatically and I could expect I higher TU score soon?

If this is the case, I guess this should be a lesson to us all that most of these companies can do whatever they want even if they say otherwise. I suppose the trick is MAKING them want to do something.

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I'm not certain about FAKO scores, but when you pull a FICO it is based on your report at the point in time that you request it.   So your FICO score would reflect having the duplicate account removed.

[Anonymous]

Even if the score doesn't change I will be very satisfied if the account is removed.....Thanks for  your assistance and the link, looks like there is some very interesting reading there - already cleared up my questions about the enhanced auto scores.

[Anonymous]

Wow, this situation is nearly duplicate to the one plaguing me and standing in the way of purchasing a home with my soon to be wife.  The thread on this topic seems eerily similar to how I came to educating myself on fico/fako scores, student loan servicers (ACS), and total breakdown in fair consumer credit reporting practices.

i'm new to the forum so I'm not looking to rant about the mistake of the student loan servicer, but instead seek some guidance from you all out there fighting a similar battle.   What started as a trip to the bank for a pre-qual/pre-approval to begin our house hunting  ended up with my fiancée in tears.  My student loans were put into forebearance due to a minor lapse in employment from april 2011 - June 2011 (thx recession!).  The forebearance period would be up in may 2012 and just as this thread speaks to, I would be faced with fixing the problem....

here's the problem..once forbearance was lifted, my federal loan of $50k was being reported twice and the trip to the bank that day enlightened me that all 3 bureaus were reporting my installment loan balance by an extra $50k so my debt to income ratio tanked and my score was down to 650-660.  Prior to unemployment, my score was in the 750's and this was the FIRST time I had ever dipped into the forbearance allowance that a borrower ito entitled to use for time like this. I understand student loan interest capitalization because I worked in the student loan portfolio software business.  I also understand this is fixable!!!

my attempts to fix...phone calls to ACS were actually productive in that I received a letter after very many follow up calls stating the removal of the duplicate accounts from theIr records and reporting this to the bureaus. The scores on equifax and experian were fixed and are surging up. TheTU score is the issue. 

Irony....since 2007 I've been using a TU product operated by TransUnion Interactive, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of TransUnion, LLC.  Through TU's service of credit monitoring, I launched an online dispute and they have yet to fix the issue. In fact TU has my dispute listed on the account that is NOT the dupe.  What??!!?  Yes, that's right the company that provides a 3 bureau monitoring can't see that my total balance of debt on the TU report is $50k more than the other reports they feed thru their portal.  It's almost comical that I'm in tears!!! 

Right now I will be launching a full court press with TU using the ACS letter that fixed the equifax and experian scores, an online doc printed from ACS confirming my account # /balance, and the credit report line items in the equifax and experian reports showing the correct balance.   TU has a form because like I said I use their monitoring services that i'll mail in with the above mentioned items.  Sad face emoticon here!

Question....Am I missing any steps and how long do I wait until I call or email a lawyer?  I feel like I have two kids in front of me blaming each other.  please feel free comment on my scenario as well as address the question!