Consumer complaint received 2021-10-03
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. (DE)

TransUnion reporting issues : On XX/XX/2021 I applied for an auto loan with multiple lenders ( lending institutions that were applied to : XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX XXXX ) to find the best interest rate that was available to me. XXXX XXXX gave me the best rate so I accepted their offer and signed for a vehicle loan with them. At the beginning of XX/XX/2021 I checked my credit report and noticed I had a high number of hard inquiries listed on my report from one of the credit reporting bureaus : TransUnion. There were ( and currently still are ) 6 hard inquiries ( from the 6 lending institutions mentioned above ) on my TransUnion report from the day I applied for my vehicle loan. Since I applied for these loans all on the same day and they were all for the exact same vehicle, then these 6 hard inquiries associated with the vehicle I was applying for should be represented as a single hard inquiry on my credit report. FYI, the other 2 major credit bureaus DID report this correctly on their reports as a single hard inquiry. On XX/XX/2021 I put in a dispute with TransUnion to try and get them to fix their mistake. On XX/XX/2021 the results of the dispute were sent to me. I was very surprised to see that not only had they not changed the 6 hard inquiries to show as a single inquiry ( yes all 6 are still on my report ), BUT FOR REASONS I'M STILL TRYING TO COMPREHEND, THEY COMPLETELY REMOVED MY XXXX VEHICLE LOAN ACCOUNT ( THAT I HAD MADE THE FIRST PAYMENT ON AND WAS ALREADY CLEARLY SHOWING ON ALL 3 CREDIT REPORTS AS A NEW ACCOUNT ) FROM MY TRANSUNION REPORT SO NOW I HAVE NO VEHICLE LOAN SHOWING AT ALL AND THE 6 INQUIRIES ARE STILL THERE! I couldn't believe what I saw, they clearly did not read the comments I typed on the dispute report because my comments were very clear and as detailed as this complaint letter I'm currently typing. My explanation would have been very difficult to misinterpret unless the dispute report was not thoroughly read and looked into in more depth before TransUnion ruled on it. On XX/XX/2021 I contacted TransUnion customer service directly. The first person I interacted with could not comprehend what I was trying to explain or they just don't know the rules on multiple loans applied to for the same purpose within a 2 week period and that they should report as a single hard inquiry ( should be basic knowledge for anyone who deals with credit reporting documentation for a living ) so I asked to speak with a supervisor. I was told by the supervisor that the 6 hard inquiries aren't affecting anything on my report and that even though it clearly shows 6 hard inquiries, it actually means 1 hard inquiry, without him explaining how this makes any kind of logical sense whatsoever. I asked him if he could fix this issue and he told me that there was nothing he could do and if I was so adamant about getting some of the hard inquiries removed that I could contact each lending institution individually and dispute the inquiry with them myself. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TAKE IT UPON MYSELF TO FIX SOMETHING THAT, IS BLATANLY OBVIOUS TO ME, TO BE A MISTAKE MADE BY TRANSUNION AND THEIR REPORTING PRACTICES. I then asked the supervisor why they removed my vehicle loan account from my credit report as a solution to my hard inquiry dispute. His answer was that yes, he saw the issue, but that it was not TransUnion at fault, it was the lending institution itself that removed the loan from my report ( why would the lending institution stop reporting my loan payments to one credit bureau but not the other 2? Again, it makes no sense ). I am attaching the dispute results report I was issued which clearly shows the final solution to their investigation into my hard inquiry problem was for TransUnion to remove the vehicle loan payments from reporting to them. I honestly feel insulted that the supervisor thought me gullible enough to just take his word for everything and that he insinuated all the fault was mine and my loan lending institution 's to bear for this whole mess. It appeared to me that his main goal was to avoid admitting any kind of blame on behalf of TransUnion so that he could quickly get off the phone with me and not have to actually look into these issues any further. Luckily, I'm a highly motivated individual and I will go to great lengths to get my point across and see something through. But it really makes me wonder how many other people are affected by similar situations like this one but maybe they don't have the capability of figuring out who they can reach out to for help, so the issue falls to the wayside and never gets properly resolved? It's disheartening that such a ( supposedly ) prestigious company, who is in the position of documenting and maintaining something as important as millions of peoples ' credit reports and is trusted by lenders worldwide as a gold standard of whether someone is trustworthy to lend to, can appoint someone so lacking in initiative to a supervisor position. These credit bureaus, because of the nature of their industry, should be absolutely transparent and willing to go above and beyond to help people with issues they experience with the reporting process, much more so than my individual experience has been anyway. Their employees shouldn't just do the bare minimum of research and try to find the fastest way off the phone. How about actually CARING a little more about people and HELPING them. Credit bureaus wield a HUGE amount of power ( they are essentially publicly traded governing bodies that the government does not directly control. Why our government does not directly govern and regulate such a crucial industry as credit reporting themselves is beyond me ). You'd think they would want to have impeccable customer skills, since they deal with such a paramount factor affecting almost everyone 's lives. So in summary, my goal is to have the 6 vehicle loan hard inquiries from XX/XX/2021 changed into a single hard inquiry, and my vehicle loan reapplied as an active account to my TransUnion report, showing payments that I've made so far ( again, I've got no issue with the other 2 bureaus, their reports are both correct ). Currently, I feel that TransUnion is not accurately reflecting my credit reporting information. They were unwilling to do anything about the issues I presented to them, even though it was clearly reporting mistakes that they themselves caused. This is now causing me MUCH unneeded stress, having to take it upon myself now to figure out what to do next and how to get a company, that is looked up to as a standard in the credit reporting industry, to actually look into this situation further, admit that 2 mistakes were made on their part, and go about fixing them. I've had zero progress in dealing with TransUnion directly about these 2 issues which has brought me here, typing this letter, which I hope will help shed some light on this situation and get it fixed. If nothing comes of this complaint letter, then my next step will be to contact my state representative to see what their opinion is on the issues I'm having with TransUnion. If needed, retaining council that is familiar with the credit reporting legal practices is absolutely an exercisable option, since I am not an expert by any means on these matters and I can only do so much myself. But I believe an individual 's credit is extremely important and has a huge impact on peoples ' lives in general. And it is absolutely worth fighting for to make sure it is accurately reflected by the reporting bureaus.