Consumer complaint received 2019-11-01
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Information belongs to someone else

Complaint:
Yesterday ( Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX ) I realized that a phone number I never had was listed in the personal details section of my XXXX XXXX account ( with the source of this information being cited as TransUnion ), and the website directed me to submit a dispute with TransUnion for any discrepancies.

In order to submit a dispute, TransUnion first verifies your identity. My first question was which of these phone numbers have you ever used previously? and the correct answer was the phone number I never had ( I only knew to select it because I had seen it on XXXX ). The second question was which state is associated with XXXX XXXX? a name that should not be associated with my credit report ( fortunately the answer was none of the above, because I would have gotten it incorrect otherwise ). Only the third question was potentially relevant to me In XX/XX/2007, what county did you live in, but because of the area code of the incorrect phone number was my area code, the question could have been referencing the owner of the incorrect number. 

When I got to my credit file to submit the dispute, neither the incorrect phone number or the unknown name were shown anywhere on my report, so all I was able to do was remove every single phone number listed on my account ( so that the only one listed was my current phone number ). Because I was disputing contact information and not an account, the option to attach documents was not possible ( I had a screenshot of the verification questions and the personal details section of my XX/XX/XXXX app ). 

I called TransUnion customer service at XXXX EST. I explained that I had attempted to remove an incorrect phone number, but once I got to the report, the information was not reflected on my report. I explained that the incorrect number was the correct answer to one of my verification questions ( we never ended up discussing the second verification question ). The representative kept repeating that XXXX is separate from them and that they have nothing to do with the apps verification process, but I kept explaining that the verification questions were required by TransUnion. After she continued to repeat the same thing, I eventually yelled transfer me to reach she replied dont yell at me. I told her I wanted to speak with a manager because she was not listening to me. Instead of escalating to management, she transferred me to a bilingual representative who answered the phone in XX/XX/XXXX ( I am evidently a native English speaker ). 

After having to explain the situation again, the second representative initially said this call needed to be escalated because I had already spoken with someone else ( that was what I had already attempted to do ). His general stance was that since it wasnt on my report, it essentially was not an issue. I initially discussed the phone number, and as before the response was that it was not shown on my report. He eventually mocked me ( he mimicked the tone and delivery I used when I said Im aware of that ) and asked if youre aware of that why have you called, is there anything else I can do to help you? ( paraphrased ) At this point I mentioned the second security question, and I essentially expressed my concern that two of the questions to verify my identity were based on information that should not have been associated with me. He maintained the same dismissive disposition and tone, and said that this was a website error and that I should have called a different number. In the middle of him saying this, the call was disconnected ( I do not know if this was intentional or an accident ).

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation