Consumer complaint received 2025-12-22 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Regarding : 1. Mislead into obtaining an unauthorized credit card under the guise of a discount membership card, without verbally disclosing that it was a credit account.

2. Continuing to be misled into unknowingly activating this unauthorized credit card account under the impression of obtaining discounts through the sign up at the register keypad.

3. XXXX Department XXXX, XXXX XXXX Department along with XXXX XXXX XXXX were unable to annul the unauthorized account, though and improperly deleted the account as a cancellation, unfairly impacting a significant negative points drop on my credit record. 
Account of the incident in my own words - On XX/XX/2025 I purchased items at the regular XXXX store price and was pitched a way to get sale prices on those and additional items with what I believed to be a discount membership card. 
There was no verbal reference as to opening a credit account prior to the sign-up. No clearly readable contract application was made available, as only a small register keypad with which I was instructed to enter some personal id information for the believed discount membership was offered, although from my visual perspective was unable to convey an impending credit check and forewarn the impact on my credit record. There was no prior indication of a credit card activation upon believing the card I signed up for was being used to give discounts on previous purchases and continued savings on additional items. 
As I tried to clarify the transactions, I realized being mislead into unknowingly activating this unauthorized credit card account under the impression of obtaining discounts through the sign up at the register keypad. 
The cashier was unapologetic without admitting any wrongdoing, with further refusal to reverse the charge and void the unauthorized account. 
The cashier also refused to re-bill discounted items at the regular price and allow the return of XXXX cash coupons to void the transaction, instead charging my XXXX card to pay down the charge of the unauthorized account, thereby unable to have my XXXX card debited for the merchandise directly. 
Told to go online or call XXXX Customer Service to delete the unauthorized account. 
Upon calling XXXX customer service, I explained the problem and had asked for an annulment of that unauthorized account and they indicated the account would be closed immediately, confirmed with a letter of cancellation sent the following day, XX/XX/2025. 
A week later as I received the credit card in the mail, I contacted customer service once again to verify the deletion, and was given the runaround as the rep said that this account was activated, paid and then canceled, so it could not have been annulled and would likely be reported to the credit bureau, even after pleading with them to understand the miscommunication to void the account altogether. As I mentioned, I felt bamboozled into getting this credit account as it was unauthorized under false pretenses. 
After seeing the inquiry and then the cancellation dropping my credit score as much as XXXX points, a score that took well over a year to build up to, I decided to dispute this damaging information on my credit record. 
This dispute seeks to annul the XXXX credit account as unauthorized, with the activation of account as misconstrued and thus correcting my credit record to null and void the inquiry and cancelation on my credit record. 
My sincerity in the dispute may be shown through my credit history, as the last XXXX years have shown the effort to only raise my credit score for the most part by avoiding opening new credit accounts and paying down the accounts I already have. Theres absolutely no reason to have caused this discrepancy on purpose.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation