Consumer complaint received 2024-08-13
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card — Card opened without my consent or knowledge
Company: Continental Finance Company, LLC (MT)

on XX/XX/XXXX i received a XXXX  mastercard via continental fiance and celtic bank in the mail. i never applied for a credit card. it says that it was issued XX/XX/XXXX, which is odd as this is over a year ago. i checked my credit report and out of all three bureaus, Continental finance did a hard inquiry on XX/XX/XXXX on XXXX. i tried many times on XX/XX/XXXX to talk to a human at Continental Finance via their card services number and let them know that this is identity theft and to close the account. i called over 10 times but each time their phone system hung up on me. Finally 10 minutes before they close, someone answered and got me to their " fraud '' department. she said that the card was never activated and she would freeze it so it couldn't be activated and she would send a notice to their fraud department to investigate this issue. when i asked what they would be investigating and what kind of information they would be supplying me with regarding this investigation, she couldn't tell me. She just kept repeating that someone would be getting back to me. I asked many times for the account to be closed and she told me i would have to call back to customer service. so i did, and i was told that since i have talked to the fraud department, that the space on his computer where he would click to close the account is greyed out and he can't close the account because the card is marked as lost/stolen. when i insisted that the account still be closed, he hung up on me and then the call center was closed for the day. i called very early on XX/XX/XXXX and i got in touch with someone who i explained that i never applied for this card, i don't want it and i want the account closed. she said she could do that. i asked if anything was noted or documented from the night before about my calls and requests and she said no. i asked what proof i would get to show that this account closure happened. she said i would be getting something in the mail, MAYBE. she wasn't even sure. i asked that she have whoever it takes, remove the hard inquiry off of my credit report and she said that i had to talk to the credit bureau and ask them to remove it, that Continental Fiance nor Celtic bank could help do this. i contacted Celtic bank and they said they couldn't help me at all and to contact the fraud department at Continental Finance. i called the fraud department via the number Celtic Bank gave me and again was told that an investigation would happen and that i might be called in the next day or two. Without me asking, she said that the hard inquiry would be removed from my credit history in 24 hours. i feel that this is a huge scam as the dates on the paperwork that i'm sending you a copy of, don't line up, there is no credit limit mentioned on this paperwork and again i NEVER APPLIED for this card or any credit card or any kind of credit product since XX/XX/XXXX. i have never heard of this company, they have shady customer service practices and most of them are not located in america when you call. it is very hard to understand what they are telling you and they keep it very vague. when i mentioned that their response about the fraud investigation was Vague, the person on the other end of the phone didn't know what that word meant. if you XXXX XXXX card Continental Finance, horrible stories of other people 's experiences come up. I am not the only one that had this exact issue happen to me. i have filed an identity theft report with the FTC and my local police. i have filed a dispute over the hard inquiry with the one credit bureau that hit but im getting the runaround from them as well.