Consumer complaint received 2018-03-12
Company: Avant Credit Corporation
State: UT
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report
Sub-issue: Credit inquiries on your report that you don't recognize

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received alerts on my XXXX XXXX app that several inquiries were reported to the credit bureaus indicating that someone was applying for credit in my name. I immediately contacted the three financial institutions involved and confirmed that someone was using my ID to obtain loans. Two of the banks took immediate action to end the loan process, Avant did nothing. One of the banks told me the email and phone number the applicant was using, and I confirmed that the information they had was false. Avant would not even allow me to talk to their fraud department nor would they confirm that they would stop the applicant from obtaining funds in my name. I filed a police report and included what evidence I had. 
Avant was extremely uncooperative while the other two banks were helpful and immediate in their response. I did not hear anything from Avant for months, and when I called they told me there was nobody I could talk to about my " case. '' In XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from Avant requesting that I fill out their " ID Theft '' affidavit which they sent in a PDF form. Upon reviewing the form I noted that Avant wants me to give them all of my personal identification information including my social security number, contact info, driver 's license, bank account information etc. I called Avant to discuss this and still they refused to allow me to talk to anyone in the fraud department.

I have no intention of giving all of my personal information to Avant and question why they would ask for such information when they have in their possession a fraudulent application for credit in my name. I decided to file a complaint with the CFPB. After that I received a second email from Avant, this time claiming that they have in fact funded the fraudulent application, even though they acknowledge that I had called in to stop the loan process. Again, they sent the " ID Theft '' affidavit and requested me to fill it out and include a photocopy of my driver 's license or passport, and to have the affidavit notarized.

Why in the world would I send any information to this company?! If they did fund the fraudulent application after I filed a complaint with them then I believe they have broken the law. I also believe it is, or should be illegal for this company to require in-depth personal information from me before they will send a request to the credit bureaus to delete their hard inquiry.

In their response to the first complaint filed with the CFPB, Avant claims that they had an internal problem that caused the 3 month delay in their initial response to my phone calls to them. I think this is unacceptable. To leave me hanging like they did, wondering if someone obtained funds in my name was stressful to say the least. I think Avant is a terrible company and they have put my credit at risk, and their only response is that they want all of my personal information which I absolutely refuse to give them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation