Unauthorized Inquiry

[Bill88]

Hi. I live in California

Earlier this month a "predatory" home mortgage firm ran a "hard" inquiry into my credit history (I know because I have one of those product offerings from one of the big three credit bureaus that monitors and alerts me of suspicious activity).

While I talked to them on the phone a couple of times just prior to this, I never authorized an inquiry. In fact, I told them at least twice that at the present time I specifically was not authorizing any inquiries. Nevertheless, they did it, and I verified the inquiry was made at the behest of this outfit.

So I called them and asked them to get the inquiry deleted. I followed up with a certified / return receipt letter asking for the inquiry to be deleted -OR- provide me proof that it was authorized.

They are not responding and so far no deletion (I have another credit bureau product where I can run my credit report every minute if I want). Any suggestions? The most important thing to me is eliminating the inquiry, which I know is in at least 2 of the big 3 credit bureaus. I could care less about the predatory lender company, although I think they deserve punishment, I am not going to waste my time on them (unless there are suggestions as to how to help them get what they deserve that don't entail me wasting too much time and effort).

By the way, I have excellent credit, so this inquiry has no effect whatsoever, I have not had a hard inquiry in other a year except for this, but I don't want it on my credit history, it was unauthorized and does not belong there. The reason I have excellent credit is because I zealousy do everything I can to keep stuff that is truly "junk" off of it.

So, best way to fix this? (i.e. get rid of an unauthorized inquiry when the firm that did it is totally unresponsive, and, secondarily, cause the firm some grief that they deserve to get?)

-Best regards,
-Bill88

[moburkes]

Contact the credit bureau directly.

[Betty3]

Agree. Have the credit reporting agcy. investigate the info in your credit report that you believe is wrong (unauthorized inquiry). Ask the agcy. to delete the info if they can't confirm its accuracy or can't verify it (can't confirm or verify that it is a legitimate inquiry).

[Bill88]

Betty3 and moburkes - thanks.

Contacted Equifax yesterday and the inquiry is gone today as of about 15 minutes ago. Didn't yet contact Transunion or Experian (had to do chores and errands) but I am just amazed how quickly Equifax responded (although I AM a customer of one of their credit monitoring products, so I may get a bit of preferential treatment, I noticed last year I signed my wife up for an Experian product and she seemed to get better treatment than me at Experian and vice-versa).

FOLLOWUP QUESTION-

Because of this unauthorized "hard" inquiry, this "predatory" lender now has the info in my credit files that they would not ordinarily be able to obtain since they were not authorized. There is nothing there other than info that paints me as a stellar, credit-worthy, low-risk kind of guy, so I am not too bothered by that. However, it IS an invasion of privacy and really ticks me off. I will probably just let it go since it isn't that big of a deal, HOWEVER, are there concerns and / or suggestions or comments that I should be aware of? I do (now) have fraud alerts and "prescreened credit opt-outs" set up and am in the do not call registry (which is how they got to me initially), anything else that might be a good idea to do?

[moburkes]

Personally, I think you're all set at this point. I'm glad that you were able to get it resolved so quickly.

[Betty3]

You're welcome & I agree with Moburkes - seems you are all set in what you can do.