Consumer complaint received 2021-11-11
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: VA
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/2021, I inquired about a personal loan from XXXX XXXX. I was original told that it would be a soft pull on my credit report. So, she had me and my husband unlocked our Experian credit report. They the representative said that claimed she tried to process my application but was unable to process it because my report keeps showing that it was locked. However, I got 3 alerts stated that they did 3 hard inquiries on my account. The representative replied its not her because on her end its saying my account is frozen ( even thou me and my husband were receiving these alert at the same time ) and that if I wanted to attempt to apply in a few days I could. I called back the next day to try to speak to another representative and explain the situation he looked into the application and said it was not processed because my credit report was frozen and that he only sees that soft pulls were done on my husband. if I still wanted to complete the application he would have to transfer me to their fraud department and the fraud department would transfer me back to him once I was done. Once he transferred me the representative said he was incorrect that she does she the 3 hard inquiries to both mine and my husband account and that they don't just remove them. It's a process that takes months. I would have to contact Experian explain to them the situation. Then Experian would contact that them to get the information at that point she could them remove it but all of this has to be done in writing. I just called Experian and they transferred me to their fraud department were they told me to contact the creditor. I explained that I already did that and they to me to contact Experian. The representative at Experian then told me they can remove it because its not related to identity thief. I stated to him although its not identity thief it was an unauthorize hard inquiry that was on my report let alone XXXX and legally according to the FCRA if it is unverified and unauthorized it must be removed. As the consumer I have the right to dispute it and have it investigated. I shouldn't have to kept going back and forth between Experian and XXXX XXXX both saying not me its them, to get this removed. I requested to speak to a supervisor and was told none are available and someone would call me back. 

Also, Experian deny the removal of 2 XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) inquiries on my report. I applied for a business card with XXXX which my social security number was request for identification purposes. The site started buffering and then the application was processed and approved. That night I got not one but 2 alerts that XXXX did a hard pull on my account. The next morning I contacted XXXX to complain the representative stated my applications wasn't processed because I had a credit lock on my account I told her it was processed and I was approved she stated that I had 2 applications being processed one business one personal. I explained I didn't apply for any personal XXXX credit card. She insisted that there was one. I said it should not be that I only applied for the business card and that the only thing I could think of was when it buffered and she still wanted to tell me about a personal card. I then said look I don't want any personal cc from them I only applied for the business cc. She then said okay do i want to cancel it i said i didn't apply for it so yes please cancel it. She then insisted that the business application wasn't processed and she complete it when do i want my card i can get it express tomorrow for free. I explained it would was completed and that i received an email saying my card would be here in 7-10 days. She said since its in process she couldn't change the delivery ( if it wasn't completed as she said why would she say she couldn't change the delivery ). Long story short, that night i got another alert from Experian that XXXX did another hard inquiry on my account. I mention this to Experian Representative and he said its not due to identity thief and so it could not be removed. I said I didn't authorize a inquiry into my personal credit only gave my social security number for identification purposes and i definitely didn't authorize for them to hit my account 3 times in 2 days. I'll accept 1 hit because it was approved even though it was supposed to be for identification purposes. But I can not accept 3 inquiries for one application. He said he wouldn't remove it because it wasn't due to identity thief but it was still unauthorized. They didn't use my social for the purpose the asked for it and ran my credit.

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