Consumer complaint received 2021-06-12
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: FL
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
- I shopped for the best home equity line of credit I could get - I pulled my own credit score and was over the acceptable level that was needed, a score ( XXXX - XXXX  XXXX to ascertain the loan - I phoned 15 loan companies and asked them to give me a quote with their best interest rates and I told all of the loan companies that I was contacting their competition to get their best interest rates and I would compare and select the loan company that was the best value for me.

- Each company told me that to get the best interest rate from them they would need to see my credit score and asked for my social security number which I gave them - 12 of the companies sent me a quote via email or regular mail. these quotes were typically sent on an application form and I was asked to sign it and mail it back to them - I did NOT sign any of these applications - This process took me about 3 months to get to this point - I selected XXXX XXXX  to get the loan and I went to their office and set down with the manager, filled out the application and I signed it and submitted it - 2 days later XXXX XXXX  contacted me and said my score was XXXX with XXXX  and that the XXXX  report is what they use as reference to meet the XXXX credit score - XXXX XXXX  declined my loan - I contacted XXXX  and asked them what happened to my credit score - XXXX  said I have 10 " Hard Inquires " that deducted points from my credit score each of the 10 " Hard inquires '' reduce my credit score between 1 and as much as 20 points - I went on XXXX  ; s website and read their definition of " Hard inquiry '' which states an application for a loan. An incomplete ( unsigned ) form is Not an application. 
To apply for a loan the application must be signed - I explained to XXXX  that I did NOT apply for a loan except 1 with XXXX XXXX  and that the other 9 inquires are " Soft inquires '' that do not deduct points from my credit score - I also explained to XXXX  that I had received mail from some of the loan companies declining their offer due to incomplete applications because they were NOT signed and submitted - XXXX  suggested that I contact the 9 loan companies and ask them to remove the " Hard inquires '' - I called 2 of the loan companies and since I did not go with their loans they paid no mind to my request to change the inquires from " Hard '' to " Soft '' - I called XXXX back again and asked them to help me to correct this faulty reporting They said that the loan companies are responsible to provide 100 % correct information and that XXXX  only passes this information along - I pointed out that XXXX  has a responsibility to pass along CORRECT information due to the fact that this information is controlling my life and is their a department that I can file a complaint to and get this faulty information corrected, They said CFPB Please give me direction as to what I can do

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation