Consumer complaint received 2023-03-14
Company: American First Finance, Inc.
State: NC
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services
Sub-issue: Billing dispute for services

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 a person who stole my identity ( obtained from recent hacking of a major credit bureau or former employer 's H.R. data ) applied on line to " XXXX '' to purchase tires & wheels and requested financing from American First Finance LLC ( a finance company XXXX has a business relationship with ). XXXX sent the identity thief 's application for financing to American First Finance. The identity thief is applying with my personal information, email address, social security number, birthdate, my name. The one piece of information connected to the real me is my phone number. The imposter is supplying a different phone number to XXXX. 
I contacted XXXX and ask them to deny applications from me or someone who may be impersonating me unless I or the impersonator can supply a notarized ID affidavit and supporting documents, copy of driver 's license ( state ID ) and Social Security Card. Their Customer Service Representative said she can not do that. I asked her to contact a manager or the owner, XXXX XXXX, to add this ability to protect consumers from identity thieves. Also when I asked for the phone number supplied on the on-line application the CSR/XXXX would not provide it to me. It was not clear if the application for credit supplied to American First Finance included the identity thief 's supplied phone number. Note : If this tire/wheel purchase was being picked up and installed at a specific garage, such as XXXX XXXX, this was not provided to me either. ( The phone Number and address of the business supplying and installing the tires canhelp in identifying the identity thief 's location and assist law enforcement ) I contacted American First Finance by the phone number they provided in a letter to me rejecting the application for financing. I also provided the account number, XXXX, to their automated system but it could not find the account number. But it connected me with a XXXX Agent. I asked him specifically if the application supplied to them by XXXX included the applicant 's phone number and if so was it different from the phone number I was contacting them on - ( XXXX ) XXXX. He said that tireAgent had not supplied the applicant 's phone number. Only XXXX 's phone number was provided. He then said he had to transfer me to their fraud department/specialist to " assist me '. XXXX would not assist me and was argumentative. He claimed that the application from XXXX did include their customer 's phone number, but even though I had all the other personal information about myself he refused to provide me with the phone number provided. ( Again critical in identifying the identity thief and working with law enforcement and It investigators ). He wanted to refer me to XXXX and not the sub-prime credit bureau it relied on and/or requested a report from - XXXX XXXX XXXX I asked XXXX to submit a police report to my police department with the details - identity thief 's supplied phone number- so they can start an investigation and/or request assistance from the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation that has a computer crimes division with IT specialist. American First Finance will submit a police report to assist consumers and the public protect their identity from hackers and identity thieves by helping get them prosecuted which will discourage other criminals from copying them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief