Consumer complaint received 2020-06-24
Company: FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO.
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 XXXX XXXX, 2020 I decided to purchase a vehicle from XXXX XXXX of XXXX. I was asked by the car salesman, what are my priorities to be able to make a deal. I answered the bottom line price. " Great, we have some excellent financing deals! '' I said " My second priority is I DO NOT want any kind of credit inquiry on my account, as I am going through a very lengthy process of qualifying to buy my first home. But no worries, I am prepared to pay with a cashier 's check ''. Besides the at home test drive, all this back and forth is being done remotely because of COVID-19. We offered and counter offered, ( not much wiggle room, as I was not financing ) and came to the agreeable amount of {$27000.00}. Ready for the next step, so he asked me to fill out some forms online to continue the process and finalize the purchase. I provided name, address, date of birth and employer information for myself and my husband. The form was not going through, because it was asking for our SSN and other info that was irrelevant, since we were not financing. I made him aware of this and I was instructed to fill out the number 9 however many times necessary in the mandatory fields ( example, SSN : XXXX ). He assured me once again no credit checks would be done. I drove to the bank to get the cashier 's check and by that point my credit card was alerting me of activity on my credit report. Lo and behold, it was the Ford Motor Credit Corporation doing a HARD INQUIRY on my, and my husband 's credit. I made the dealership aware of this. " Impossible! We don't even have your SSN! '' Well, then I showed them proof and they seemed just as surprised as I was. Many phone calls later, someone from the dealership let me know that in fact, Ford Motor Credit Corporation has changed its practices in the last year, the dealership was not aware of this and it is apparently standard! Well, it's not okay that they did this, not okay that the dealership was not aware, and most of all not okay that in one breath the dealership tells me they will do anything in their power to make it right and earn my business, and in the next breath their hands are tied and in fact they have NOTHING to do with Ford Motor Credit Corporation, they are XXXX XXXX of XXXX, no relation! Well, I pointed out that in fact the relation is that the dealership gave them my information. But they pointed out I am incorrect, I went directly through the XXXX website and filled out that form! Well, I WAS INSTRUCTED TO DO SO by the car salesman, so that I could purchase the vehicle. Their suggestion for fixing the problem was that I contact XXXX and claim it as fraudulent activity. This was no help at all and I believe there is something they could have done on their end to truly make this right. 
I am thoroughly disappointed and disheartened by the actions ( and lack thereof ) of XXXX XXXX of XXXX and mostly the Ford Motor Credit Corporation. As I told the car salesman, it is very important for there to not be ANY credit activity, as I am trying to buy a home soon and I was told by my financial counselor that there can not be any activity on my credit. And we were hit with a double whammy, since to happened to me and my husband. Now this will reduce the amount of credit we can qualify for, and set us back many months in the process of buying our first home.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief