Consumer complaint received 2023-02-23
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
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:
I received a notification from XXXX on XX/XX/2022 that someone had attempted to open two credit card accounts and one jewelry financing account in my name. The two involved credit cards were a XXXX XXXX card and a Saks-Fifth-Avenue-branded Capital One card. XXXX XXXX XXXX for XXXX XXXX was the involved jewelry financing institution. 

I contacted all companies immediately and was able to block the credit applications as fraud. The XXXX and Capital One representatives stated that the hard inquiries would be removed from my credit reports within 60 to 90 days. Inquiries from XXXX XXXX Bank never reached my credit reports. 

I then contacted XXXX, reported the inquiries as fraudulent, and they subsequently removed them and placed a fraud alert on my report. 

I then filed a dispute on XXXX 's website to let them know that the involved hard inquiries were fraudulent. Their team claimed to have verified them with the involved companies as being accurate, which is false, as those creditors ' representatives explicitly confirmed to me by phone that they'd marked them as fraudulent. 

I was unable to access XXXX 's website despite providing accurate personal information, so attempted to contact them via phone where I was told that I'd need to contact them by mail. 

I was able to lock my XXXX credit report using XXXXXXXX XXXX  app and then froze my credit reports with XXXX and XXXX. 

I submitted an identity theft affidavit to the FTC ( attached ) and sent a copy to XXXX, who elevated my fraud alert to an extended fraud alert. 

I mailed copies of the affidavit as well as the involved credit reports with the fraudulent inquiries highlighted to both XXXX and XXXX. 

In the interim, and to their credit, XXXX removed their inquiries from all of my reports and sent me a confirmation letter that they had converted them to soft inquiries, which don't impact my XXXX XXXX. 

I telephoned and offered copies of the FTC identity theft affidavit to Capital One and XXXX XXXX Bank. XXXXXXXX XXXX Bank had me submit a copy of the affadavit to their fraud department via email. Capital One declined a copy of the affadavit. 

I received a reply from XXXX that they required more identity information, despite my having sent them copies of my driver 's license, passport, and social security card. XXXXXXXX XXXX reply claimed that they verified with Capital One that the inquiries were legitimate, which is again, false, according to Capital One 's agents, and stated that they required a letter from Capital One confirming that the hard inquiry was fraudulent. 

Shortly after I received their reply letter, XXXX removed the CapitalOne/Saks Fifth Avenue inquiry from my report, so my issues with them are resolved and the only remaining trouble is with XXXX and Capital One. 

I contacted Capital One in XXXX and relayed XXXXXXXX XXXX request for a letter to them. The agent refused to provide a letter and informed me that it could take up to 90 days from the initial inquiry to remove the fraudulent inquiries from my XXXX report and to wait until the XXXX of XXXX, which would mark three months, after which they would provide me with a letter to relay to XXXX if they still hadn't removed the fraudulent inquiry. 

On the XXXX of XXXX, I pulled a copy of my credit report from all three bureaus and found that XXXX was still reporting the inquiry from Capital One ( attached ). I phoned Capital One again and informed them that the 90-day window had passed and that XXXX requires a letter from them in order to remove the fraudulent inquiry. The agent again refused to provide a letter and said that that " sounded strange of XXXX '' and relayed me to a different associate who confirmed that the inquiry had long been marked as fraud and that it would be removed within 90 days of the initial hard inquiry. I reminded him that it had already been 90 days from the XXXX of XXXX, he sounded surprised, and then asked me to " give it 30 more days. '' At this point, I believe Capital One is simply trying to stall the situation, yet XXXX absolutely refuses to remove their fraudulent hard inquiry from my report without action from them ( and despite the inquiry having been removed from reports from the other credit bureaus ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation