Consumer complaint received 2025-06-23 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Credit inquiries on your report that you don't recognize
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, I went to XXXX XXXX to look at cars and get an estimate, seeing as I was about to start a new job. I made it clear that I wasn't purchasing a car, and that I've never had a credit card, loans, or built any credit score ; I am completely new. The dealership ran my credit score anyway with a bank called XXXX XXXX, resulting in a hard inquiry being placed on my credit report without my knowledge. I told the car dealership that I was going to start and built my credit score before I purchased a car. 

Therefore, I went home and immediately applied for a XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. My application was immediately denied, so I called customer service and they told me that there were too many recent inquiries on my credit, specifically from XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/year>, I went to XXXX XXXX to get advice on what to do or see if they could help. The teller told me to run my credit report on XXXX and contact the credit bureau Equifax. I spoke to a representative, who told me they had no documentation on me in their system, but saw the hard inquiry on my report. They told me to call and dispute the issue with XXXX XXXX. I called XXXX XXXX who told me they had kept no record or reference to this inquiry, and to contact the credit bureau TransUnion, since the credit bureaus are the ones who place the inquiry on your report. TransUnion subsequently told me to contact XXXX XXXX, citing the same reason Equifax did : they had no documentation of me or this inquiry. I contacted Ally Financial AGAIN, who directed me to their fraud division and hung up, knowing full well their fraud division had closed 20 minutes prior at XXXX EST. 

After all of this, I decided to contact Equifax one more time. The representative told me to mail a copy of my Social Security card, copy of my drivers license, a cover letter describing the issue, and the FTC report from the incident in order to process a dispute. Before I take any of those steps ( like mailing a copy of my Social Security card??? ), I'm submitting this issue to CFPB because I have no where to turn to. Each of these companies ( XXXX XXXX, Equifax, TransUnion ) claim that they can not help me and have no records of this hard inquiry, and therefore can not dispute or remove it, even though my credit report on Equifax clearly says " Hard Inquiry : XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/year> ''. 

In summary, I did NOT want my credit score run by the dealership. The hard inquiry on my credit report caused by the dealership and XXXX XXXX is now barring me from getting a credit card anywhere for 2 years ( according to XXXX XXXX  and XXXX ), and I can not begin to build my credit. None of either XXXX XXXX, Equifax, or TransUnion claim to know anything about this hard inquiry, and they've all directed me to each other instead.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief