Consumer complaint received 2020-04-22
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: WI
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX a XXXX XXXX card was opened in my name and it was determined that it was fraudulent because they could not verify the identity of the applicant. I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to remove the account from my credit report and the inquiry in XXXX of XXXX. Initially they informed me that they could not, but eventually they did. What I did not know is that they also sent a fraud alert to all of the credit reporting agencies. So in XXXX of XXXX when I attempted to apply for a XXXX credit card I was denied the ability to apply for credit because XXXX XXXX had sent a fraud alert on my account. XXXX informed me that they could not verify my identity based off of the information from Experian XXXX XXXX XXXX. So in XXXX of XXXX I went to the websites of all the credit card companies XXXX Experian and XXXX and followed the instructions to have the alert removed from my file because it was blocking my ability to access new lines of credit. 

I went online for Experian and mailed a letter for XXXX, but I did not receive any confirmation from any of the companies. Most recently, I had to call back on XX/XX/XXXX because XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX informed me that Experian still had a fraud alert on my account that required them to verify my identity before we discussed any account information. 

I check my credit report every week through XXXX XXXX ' XXXX XXXX XXXX which is powered by XXXX  and it did not list a fraud alert notice for XXXX to present date. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX informed me that they had to do a security check, which should have only been a soft inquiry. However, it was listed on my credit as a soft and a hard inquiry. I would like the hard inquiry to be removed. I contacted Experian on XX/XX/XXXX and they removed the fraud alert. But I had already previously contacted them in XXXX of XXXX to remove the alert through their online portal, so it already should have been removed. So, the XXXX XXXX soft inquiry should have never occurred since I had already contacted Experian in XXXX to remove the fraud alert. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX to get the XXXX XXXX hard inquiry removed from my report because XXXX XXXX stated it was due to the fact that Experian placed a fraud alert on my credit report. I never authorized a fraud alert to be placed on my account and in XXXX of XXXX I went to www.experian.com and submitted the documentation electronically for the fraud alert to be removed from my account in XXXX of XXXX and XXXX of XXXX. 

Frankly, I want the XXXX XXXX hard inquiry removed from my account because I did not apply for credit with XXXX XXXX. They stated it was a security measure from Experian that I did not authorize on my credit report which all stemmed from fraudulent XXXX XXXX card.

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