Consumer complaint received 2024-09-27 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: Exeter Finance, LLC.
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, IL violated my consumer rights and breeched my privacy by sending my information to multiple lenders without my consent. I visited the dealership on XX/XX/2024 after I completed an online form for a vehicle which resulted in a hard inquiry on my credit report. The salesman I was working with told me that his manager stated I wasn't approved based on the status of my credit report at that time. I left after being told I wasn't approved. 

From that day forward up until the end of XX/XX/2024. I constantly received calls and text from the dealership which was annoying and frustrating. As I had told them back in XXXX that I would work some things out on my credit and that I might come back. I finally answered a call I received from them on XX/XX/2024 and was told by the salesman that if I bring in a certain down payment amount they could work with me on getting me a new vehicle. At first I declined and told the salesman that I didn't want my credit to have another hard inquiry because I was still working on it. The salesman stated that his manager could work with the credit report information from XXXX  if I were to come with a down payment of at least {$6000.00}, my photo ID, and proof of income. 
I didn't think anything of it and later questioned why would they still have my credit report information as it had been over 30 days since I was last there. 

I showed up that same day on XX/XX/24 and once again requested that my credit report not be ran because not much had changed since my last visit with them. I was mislead by the salesman and the manager as they stated that If they did run my credit again that the inquires would fall off once I received the new vehicle. 

I became annoyed and again told them that there was no need to do another hard inquiry with me knowing that my score only went up a few points and had active disputes with all three credit bureaus. 
The salesman then mentioned that there were some banks that would approve me for an auto loan with the information that they already had along with my proof of income and down payment information. I verbally stated again that I didn't want my credit to have any more hard inquiries and that I will come back at a later time if need be. I was fully aware of my credit report status and knew very well that there definitely was no need to run my report. The salesman stepped away stating that he was going to speak with his manager again and went to a back office. 

Since I was in the process of disputing, I purchased a monthly credit monitoring plan through XXXX to keep up with my disputes. The salesman and the manager were in a back office and had ran my personal information several times. I started to received the notifications back to back from the XXXX app on my phone. 
When the salesman came back to his desk, I was upset and told him about the notifications I had just received. He looked so shocked and then proceeded to tell me that the inquiries are going to fall off once I leave with a new vehicle. I verbally stated again that I didn't want them to run my credit anymore and they did it anyway. 

The salesman apologized then told me that I wasn't approve by any of the lenders they entered my information with. I knew I wasn't getting a new car that day no matter the amount of the down payment that I showed up with. I was highly upset and very emotional as I was leaving. 

When I made it home that day, I checked the XXXX alerts again to see the exact amount of hard inquires on my report and didn't even realize that the dealership did a hard inquiry with XXXX on XX/XX/24 prior to my arrival on XX/XX/24. I didn't realize this sooner because I wasn't expecting the dealership to run my credit without me being present to give my written consent. I've tried disputing all the inquires over the phone with the credit reporting agencies and they didn't remove them. My credit score tanked lower than it was when I first started working on my credit, I am now filing a formal complaint with CFPB, FTC, and the States Attorney General 's Office for XXXX XXXX 's unfair business practices. I am also seeking a consult with a consumer rights attorney. This dealership should not get away with the way they handled things and it shouldn't have gotten this far. There is absolutely no way that I would consent to running several hard inquiries when I knew for a fact that it was no way possible I would get an approval. I didn't sign any documents consenting to this on XX/XX/24 and I wasn't even there on XX/XX/24. I ignored calls and text from them up until XX/XX/24.

I froze all three credits reports on XX/XX/24 and added a fraud alert because I want the dealership to run my credit again. I'm scare to unfreeze my accounts and apply for any credit anywhere because of the dealerships unfair practices. 

I am attaching documents showing proof of the unauthorized hard inquiries done without my consent on multiple days in XXXX of XXXX. These documents will show multiple inquires for the following : Exeter Finance XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX violated several consumer protection laws. They breached my privacy, displayed fraudulent misrepresentation by knowingly misled me about how my credit would be handled, and acted negligently by ignoring my instructions, which caused further damage to my credit score. The credit bureaus won't remove the inquiries and I wouldn't have been fighting hard inquires for the three months if the dealership had have respected my request regarding my credit report. 

This dealership needs to be held accountable for improper actions.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation