Consumer complaint received 2023-03-13
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Information belongs to someone else
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. (OR)

Summary ( full details below ) : I was a victim of identity theft and someone applied for a credit card in my name nearly ten months ago. Ever since, I have been attempting to get TransUnion to investigate this dispute, as it is required to do under FCRA, and remove the inquiry. During my most recent call to TransUnion the TransUnion representative ACTIVELY MOCKED ME, which was the last straw. -- -- -- Full description of what happened : On XX/XX/XXXX, someone applied for credit using my name ( and presumably social security number ) with XXXX XXXX XXXX, using an address in Georgia. I have never lived in Georgia and have no relationship with XXXX XXXX XXXX. I learned of this inquiry shortly afterward from my bank 's credit notice service. The inquiry appeared on my TransUnion credit report. 

I called the main XXXX XXXX XXXX  number and reported the fraud, and was told that inquiry appeared to be fraudulent and the application would be terminated. I also contacted TransUnion by phone, since a fraudulent inquiry can not be dispute online. I also placed security freezes on my files and all three credit bureaus. When I reported the fraud to TransUnion and told them they inquiry was not mine, they did not undertake an investigation and instead instructed me to procure a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX  acknowledging that the inquiry was fraudulent. 

When I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX to obtain the letter, I was told that the bank 's fraud department could not be reached by phone, mail, or email, and could only be contacted via fax ( a statement which I believe to be false ). I was ultimately able to use an email-to-fax service to send a request for the letter that TransUnion was insisting on XXXX Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX  acknowledging I was not responsible for " the credit card account ending in XXXX. '' ( I was unaware that an account had been created and to my knowledge it has never appeared on any of my credit reports. ) The letter stated that the information would be forwarded to the major credit bureaus and could take up to 90 days to be reflected on my credit report. 

I waited 90 days, and the inquiry still appeared on my TransUnion credit report. On XX/XX/XXXX, I mailed a letter to TransUnion attaching the letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX. In early XX/XX/XXXX, I received a pro forma response letter from TransUion explaining why there was an inquiry on my account, but not acknowledging that I had been disputing the inquiry for months and attached a letter from the bank that received the fraudulent application. I then called TransUnion on XX/XX/XXXX, and asked them again to remove the inquiry, and explained that literally no one was alleging that I had made this inquiry, that it was obviously fraudulent based on the address alone, and that this should ave been dealt with within 30 days of when I disputed the inquiry. The representative refused to initiate an investigation and then mocked me for attached the letter from the bank, asking, extremely sarcastically, " Do you even know how to read a letter? Why would you attach that letter? '' ( The answer, of course, is that I attached that letter because that is the letter I received and no one, at TransUnion or the bank, has been remotely interested in complying with their obligations under FCRA. ) The TransUnion representative then directed me to call a number at XXXX XXXX XXXX. I did so, and the phone tree does not connect to a live human or offer any option to proceed without a XXXX XXXX XXXX  credit card number, which if course I don't have. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent yet another letter to XXXX XXXX XXXX  at the address they listed on their letter ( suggesting that the statement the bank could only receive faxes was an outright lie ) seeking a letter with the " magic wording '' that TransUnion is requiring. 

I did not choose to allow TransUnion to compile and profit from the sale of my personal data. If it is inconvenient for the company to comply with statutory requirements, then perhaps it should find another line of business.