Consumer complaint received 2021-05-09
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased a XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for which I required an auto loan. I traded a XXXX XXXX XXXX which was financed, there was equity in this vehicle as the balance was much less than the value of the vehicle. During this process I verbally authorized XXXX XXXX to run a credit inquiry to XXXX only. After receiving the result of this inquiry, XXXX, specifically XXXX XXXX a Manager at XXXX, then submitted my loan request to 12 different lenders. I did not authorize this, neither verbally or in writing. I truly thought that this submission would have been limited to only the auto loan lenders - XXXX and XXXX XXXX. Not only did XXXX submit this request to lenders unauthorized by me, he also changed the amount of my monthly income. The change reflected an additional {$2200.00} per month. Both of these actions are unacceptable, unethical and illegal. Approximately a week later, I received an email from XXXX XXXX stating that my FICO score dropped XXXX points due to hard inquiries related to my purchase at XXXX. XXXX points due to hard inquiries. I then began receiving bank rejection letters as to why these lenders chose to not finance my auto loan. I received 10. All are attached. After this, I phoned XXXX, requested to speak to the finance manager, XXXX XXXX, who filled out and had me sign for my XXXX purchase to find out why my loan request was submitted to so many lenders. She did not return my call, instead XXXX XXXX did and stated to me that he was the one who submitted the loan request on my behalf. I requested a copy of my credit application which took 4 requests to obtain it. I can only presume that XXXX did not want me to have a copy as it contained false information. I requested all documents with regard to my purchase as not all were given to me at the time of the sale. Some of these documents were signed electronically. I was asked to sign a small screen in the finance office only once by XXXX XXXX, after that when a signature was required I only tapped the screen when instructed to do so for each of the electronic forms. I did not physically see these forms and the screen was very small and was only used for acknowledging my signature. I have requested to receive a report which shows the date and time stamp of when these forms were signed during my 4th and final request to receive my credit application. I was not given this report. Even so, you can clearly see that the credit application was signed electronically as my signature is exactly the same all 3 times it appears on the credit form and it is much smaller than the forms I signed physically. The significance of this is that it shows proof that the document was signed long after all credit inquiries were submitted. The form specifically states that I agree to allow XXXX to submit my application to financial institutions as DISCLOSED TO ME BY THE DEALER. XXXX did not disclose even one financial institution to me. If they had, I would have never allowed 12 lenders for the exact reason that I am filing this claim. It drops your FICO score ... it does not come off the credit bureau for 2 whole years. My credit was obviously not the best then but now I am unable to do anything financially with regards to credit. I had struggled back from a divorce to be where I was. I would have never purchased this XXXX had I known this event would have cost me this much.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation