Consumer complaint received 2018-11-06
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: VA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Complaint:
I am having a problem with Transunion. I want to freeze my XXXX year old son 's credit. I reviewed the instructions on Transunion 's website on how to request a security freeze for a minor. After reading their instructions, I mailed them a letter explaining that I am trying to freeze my son 's credit. In my letter, I provided his name, birthday, social security number, and two years worth of addresses. I also provided my name, my birthday, my social security number, and two years of my addresses. I signed the letter, and provided my name, phone number, email address, and mailing address. 

I mailed this letter to Transunion, along with a copy of my son 's birth certificate, a copy of my son 's social security card, a copy of my own birth certificate, a copy of my own social security card, a copy of my drivers license showing my current address, and a copy of my most recent electric bill which shows both my name and current address. 

I received a response from Transunion saying I had failed to submit all required documentation. Their letter is not clear, and required some creative reading to understand. To the best of my ability, I interpret their letter as saying that I failed to submit proof of authority to act on behalf of my XXXX year old son. According to the letter, proof of authority would be : ( 1 ) a court order, ( 2 ) power of attorney, or ( 3 ) a written notarized statement expressly describing the authority to act on behalf of a protected consumer.

( 1 ) There is no court order for my son that I can submit, because my son lives with his happily married parents who have not reason to get a custody order. ( 2 ) My son is XXXX year old, so lacks capacity to grant a power of attorney to me. *3 ) I guess this means I need to submit a " written notarized statement expressly describing the authority to act on behalf of a protected consumer, '' but XXXX is that???  Should I have gotten notarized my letter saying I am my child 's mother, and want to freeze his credit. Was the birth certificate showing I am his mother not enough? Additionally, a written, notarized statement is NOT a requirement listed on the Transunion website instructions for requesting a security freeze. 

I attempted to resolve this problem by calling the phone number listed on the letter to ask what a " written notarized statement expressly describing the authority to act on behalf of a protected consumer '' is supposed to say. The person I spoke with did not appear to understand what a protected consumer freeze is, and would not talk to me about my XXXX year old son 's credit because she can only talk to me about my own credit. 

I am submitting this complaint to the CFPB because the CFPB should do something to require credit agencies to make a common sense procedure to freeze a child 's credit. This should not be a difficult process. 

MY FILE NUMBER WITH TRANSUNION REGARDING THIS ISSUE IS : XXXX. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, VA XXXX XXXX ***PS, I had no problem freezing my son 's credit with XXXX and XXXX .

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