Consumer complaint received 2019-09-17
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Investigation took more than 30 days

Complaint:
I have filed a complaint about this problem already at the FTC Consumer Response Center,  Complaint # XXXX. They referred me to your agency, the CFPB. 

I am filing this complaint because in XXXX of XXXX I ordered a new XXXX custom-made XXXX XXXX  XXXX from a car dealer in Nevada called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which is located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX Nevada XXXX, phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX, General Manager XXXX XXXX. 

I told XXXX XXXX  at the time I ordered the car that I would be paying for it in full in cash. They agreed to order it and said it would take about 3 months to make. In fact it took closer to 5. 

When the car finally arrived at XXXX XXXX from the manufacturer, I went to buy it on XX/XX/XXXX. I filled out the forms the finance manager, XXXX XXXX, required me to fill out, including a form that included my social security number to do " a background check '' on me. Mr. XXXX told me that the federal government required this background check by law in accordance with the Patriot Act. I told him that I did not want him to run a credit check on me because I planned to buy a house, and would need to qualify for a mortgage, and therefore the whole reason I was buying the car in full in cash was because I specifically DID NOT WANT TO HAVE AN AUTO LOAN ON MY CREDIT REPORT. He said he understood and I wrote on the form I filled out that I DID NOT CONSENT TO AN AUTO LOAN AND WAS NOT APPLYING FOR AN AUTO LOAN. 

A month later, in XXXX of XXXX, I ran my credit report and saw that in fact XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX HAD RUN AN AUTO LOAN HARD CREDIT INQUIRY ON MY CREDIT REPORT WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION OR CONSENT, THAT MY CREDIT SCORE HAD DROPPED 30 POINTS, AND THAT THIS AUTO LOAN INQUIRY WOULD REMAIN ON MY CREDIT REPORT FOR 2 YEARS through XXXX of XXXX. 

I immediately contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and they had one of their finance people named XXXX XXXX write a letter confirming that I never took out an auto loan at the time of purchase. However this letter did me no good in terms of repairing my credit report. 

I also repeatedly fought with XXXX, XXXX and Equifax to remove this unauthorized hard auto loan credit inquiry from my credit report. They all refused to remove it from my credit report and told me that this was specifically coded by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at the time of purchase ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and that only XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX could remove it from my report. They told me to have XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX remove it from my report as an " error ''. 

For the next five ( 5 ) months, I called and left messages at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Specifically, I asked the General Manager, XXXX XXXX, to return my call about this matter. He NEVER CALLED ME BACK. NOT ONCE. Finally I got his assistant XXXX on the phone and she gave me his email address and that allowed me to email him. I emailed him requesting he remove this UNAUTHORIZED AUTO LOAN CREDIT INQUIRY from my credit report as an " error '' and he refused to do it. At first he said that the federal law required it ( NOT TRUE ) and then he said that I had signed a credit application ( NOT TRUE EITHER - I WROTE ON THEIR FORM THAT I WAS NOT APPLYING FOR AN AUTO LOAN ). Since I owe XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NOT ONE CENT for this car, and since I NEVER APPLIED FOR AN AUTO LOAN, and since I did NOT AUTHORIZE AN AUTO LOAN CREDIT CHECK, it is insane that they refuse to remove it from my credit report. The only explanation for this behavior is that they know they did something they should not have done, and now they have been caught. But instead of fixing the problem, they are making it worse and hoping it will disappear. But I will not disappear and I need it removed from my credit report. I am in the process of trying to buy a house and get a mortgage so having this UNAUTHORIZED AUTO LOAN CREDIT INQUIRY FOR TWO YEARS LONGER on my credit report is extremely damaging and was the whole reason that I paid in full in cash for their XXXX car to begin with.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation