Consumer complaint received 2022-08-01
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card — Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud
Company: Avant Holding Company, Inc. (VA)

On XX/XX/22 someone submitted and was approved for a Credit Card through XXXXAvant after a hard inquiry was submitted to XXXX. I called Avant the next day and was told that the account would be placed under fraud alert and investigated, and to email their compliance address for further information. 

For the last 2 months, I have been emailing and calling Avant to request that : 1 ) The inquiry be removed from my XXXX credit report 2 ) The account be closed and documentation of actions taken and confirmation of account closure be sent to me in writing, as well as documentation of the information used in the account application so that it may be submitted to law enforcement and I can understand what of my information has been compromised I have called on 4 different occasions and emailed them repeatedly. Their phone support refuses to provide any information or documentation other than telling me that the account is under fraud review. They will not connect me to an actual fraud department or provide their contact phone number. Rather they just provide an email address, however they have given different email address and Avant has not responded to any of the messages to any of the addresses, with the exception of a single response stating that they could not find an account and to call their call center, which again triggered the same cycle of dead end with the call center and advised to email the same address that just referred to the call center. I replied to that one response which also went unanswered. I was also initially told I would receive an affidavit in the mail which turned out to be false, as the next time I called they said that would not happen and I have never received anything in the mail. 

The only response I have been able to get is through a complaint submitted through the XXXX XXXX XXXX Through the XXXX, Avant has stated that the account has been closed and no further action is required, that they have removed the information from my credit report, and that they are unable to provide anything in writing. As this is a 3rd party, this response was appreciated but inadequate as without any confirmation directly from Avant there is no evidence that any of their actions have actually occurred. 

To date, I have confirmed with XXXX that despite Avant 's statement it had been removed, the inquiry in fact has NOT been removed. There is also no evidence that the account is actually closed, as it is still available through their phone system but apparently has not been activated. 

To date, there is no verifiable or confirmatory evidence that the account has been closed or any action has been taken to address the fraud as required by the FCRA. In fact, attempting to confirm what I've been able to has proved that the information they've given is in fact false. I have asked for their process and address to send requests in writing, but their call center will not provide either and clearly does not have the required processes in place to prevent and resolve fraud. 

It is completely unacceptable to not provide any written communication or documentation in this situation, particularly as noted by the CFPB FAQs on the FCRA.