Consumer complaint received 2019-01-17
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: MD
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/2019, a representative from XXXX came into my place of work around XXXX offering to quote me phone services since XXXX, my place of work, partners with them and we receive a special discount. In addition to the basic info he requested such as name and address, I was asked to provide my social security number. I told him that I would not provide it because I recently filed chapter XXXX bankruptcy meaning I was working on re-establishing credit and that a hard inquiry will negatively impact my score. The sales man assured me that they only requested it to check their data base to confirm I did not have an active or closed account that had a balance due. He said it was not going to do anything against my credit. I was hesitant do he swore/promised it did not go against my credit. Since your social is used only for you and your accounts, I believed him when he said it was only to check his own company 's records so I provided my social to him. Everything was fine for the following 20 minutes after. I received a quote for phone service and he left. About 30 minutes had passed when I got an email that a new hard inquiry was added to my TU report. This I repeatedly told the representative that he was NOT AUTHORIZED to check my credit by any means. I was on a 5 minute break when the email came in so I was unable to check it until the following day. Upon checking, it was true that XXXX did a hard inquiry. Today, XX/XX/2019, I finally had the time to take care of having this removed from my report. Beings I had once before disputed an error on my TU report, I tried going online and disputing it that way. After logging into my TU account and reviewing the most current report, there was no option for me to dispute the inquiry online. Upon reviewing the rest of my report, I came across the phone number for TU, XXXX and the number for XXXX special resolution center, XXXX. I began by calling TU at XXXX, explained the unauthorized inquiry and the woman I first spoke with said that the only way to have this removed from my report was to contact XXXX and have them mail me a Letter of deletion. After I received this, I had to write a statement approving the request in addition to a cover letter with my basic information, reason for the letter and social. I was told to send it to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, PA XXXX Attn : TransUnion. I then contacted XXXX at XXXX. Once I was connected with someone, the man assured me that they do not send out such letters nor would he have permission to create one. He said that chances are the woman at TU simply did not want to deal with my call. He confirmed there were no accounts opened in my name and advised me to call TU back and tell them that XXXX does not issue such letters. At XXXX, I spoke with a woman and explained to her the first and second call. She told me the same exact thing the first woman did about getting a letter. Once I told her that it was impossible, she told me that the last option would be to file a police report for fraud. At which point I would be able to send the report to TU and they would remove it. I called my local precinct at XXXX requesting non-emergency personnel for a report. Around XXXX, two officers arrived to file a report but were unable to because it technically doesnt qualify as fraud because there was never any type of account opened in my name. The police officer was told everything that happened today and said that I should contact XXXX and request them to contact TU themselves. After the officers left, once again I called TU at XXXX to confirm all of the information I needed from XXXX so they can contact TU. The man i spoke with said that no matter how XXXX contacts them, that they are contracted to report any and all credit related changes and claimed that I was not going to have this removed regardless. I explained repeatedly that this inquiry was NOT authorized and it was illegal due to an illegitimate reason. I was still not getting anywhere so I disconnected the call. I called XXXX back at XXXX and requested a supervisor. The supervisor was very understanding of my frustration and checked again to make sure I did not have any open accounts. He then emailed me the link to TU dispute online at which point I explained to him I already tried. He also verified the phone number I was using to contact TU. Lastly once there was nothing he could do, he recommended I submit my dispute by paper via mail service and try that way. He also said that if my request was still denied then to contact him back and he will send it as high up the pay scale until the matter was resolved. I should not have to argue with TU or XXXX, although XXXX people were nice, for an inquiry that was not authorized. TU claims all they are were a middle man between the Credit Bureau and XXXX. Either way, isnt there some law preventing them or anyone for that matter, from sharing false information? And if so, why must someone have to go through a process as such to have the discrepancy fixed.

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