Consumer complaint received 2022-05-29
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
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: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
My complaint is against Equifax Information Services LLC, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX. This complaint is for Equifax failing to remove two unauthorized hard credit inquiries from my credit report. These two hard credit inquiries, both from the same financial institution, both on the same day where done in error and without my authorization. The requests to Equifax for removing these two hard credit inquiries came directly from the financial institution that requested them, the car dealership that in error applied from a loan in my name and myself. All of these requests and disputes went completely unanswered and ignored by Equifax. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased a vehicle from XXXX XXXX. Before making the purchase without the assistance of the XXXX XXXX finance department I applied for and obtained an auto loan using XXXX XXXX XXXX. While XXXX was processing the paperwork they made a mistake and applied for financing for me using several banks including XXXX XXXX without my permission. I contacted Equifax about this situation and Im told I do have the right to have these two hard credit inquiries removed since they werent authorized or requested by me. They also explained to me that to have this inquiry removed the removal request should be done by the creditor that did the inquiry which in this case is XXXXXXXX XXXX 
On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX sent a certified letter to XXXXXXXX XXXX explaining this mistake and asked them to contact Equifax to have these two hard credit inquiries removed from my credit report because is was done in error. I also sent a certified letter to XXXXXXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX asking them to contact Equifax to have these two inquiries removed because it was not authorized by me and is having a negative affect on my credit report, my loan applications and my acquisition of credit. Since then I have filed several disputes with Equifax over this same issue with no results. XXXXXXXX XXXX has also sent several letters to Equifax requesting the removal of this hard credit inquiry and again with no results. Each time XXXX XXXX mailed these letters to Equifax they mailed me copies of these letters so I truly believe that XXXXXXXX XXXX  mailed these letters to Equifax. I have called Equifax several times in the last four months and I'm always told the same thing, I'm told that they received my disputes and included with my disputes a copy of the letter from XXXX XXXX but they must receive this request letter directly from XXXX XXXX  or these credit inquiries will not be removed. I have never received this information in writing from Equifax. 
This past Thursday XX/XX/XXXX I called Equifax and again was told that they never received any letters from XXXX Bank and was told I need to contact the Federal Trade commission and file a fraud report. I attempted but was redirected to the CFPB website. On this same day I contacted XXXX Bank and again requested that they send this letter again. They did send it and sent it certified mail and supplied me with proof of mailing. 
This past Friday XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from Equifax and was told that they never received a letter from XXXX Bank requesting this hard credit removal. They also explained to me that I must file a fraud complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and send a copy of this complaint to XXXX to have these XXXX credit inquiries removed from my credit report. I explained to Equifax that fraud was not committed by XXXX Bank or XXXX XXXX it was simply an error made by the XXXX XXXX department. Both XXXX and XXXX Bank recognized this as an error and have both been working with me to correct this error by requesting that these XXXX hard credit inquiries be removed from my credit reports. Equifax insisted that I file this fraud report with the FTC. I immediately went to the FTC web site to file this report but when attempting to file this fraud complaint I was redirected to The CFPB. I believe that I was redirected to the CFPB because this is not fraud or identity theft it is just an error that was done while processing my paperwork when purchasing my new vehicle. I now believe that Equifax is just giving me a run around and is not doing anything to correct this error that was admitted as an error by both the car dealership and by the financial institution that requested the credit inquiries.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation