▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ 🅣🅡🅐🅝🅢🅤🅝🅘🅞🅝 🅢🅤🅒🅚🅢! █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂
In December, I was told that my history at TransUnion was frozen. I didn't do it, and I don't have any clue when it happened.
Naturally, I immediately called TransUnion and I spoke to one of their agents, who couldn't help me, so I escalated to a supervisor, who said it was an electronic error on their part, and that it'd be fixed in 48 hours. I trusted that person to do what was promised, so I didn't check. I forgot that the 3 credit bureaus are not beholden to us consumers and, for my entire credit history life, there've been mistakes made by all 3. TransUnion never called me back or attempted to contact me in another way.
I spoke to my credit union, Summit Credit Union (located in WI), this past Monday, which has a contract with them, and they said it's still frozen. They said I'd have to straighten it out with TransUnion .
I immediately called TransUnion and escalated to a supervisor named Vaurel/Vorel (rhymes with Laurelle), and SHE also promised that it'd be fixed in 48 hours. It has now been 5 days and my account is STILL frozen at TransUnion. Because I can't apply for credit with any place that uses TransUnion (which includes my credit union), and they update addresses based on credit requests, my address is still listed as being in West Allis, WI. Despite the fact that they never, EVER asked for my address to make sure it was correct my whole credit life, the only other way to resolve this is to send them a copy of my driver's license, which is still for WI. I finally received my new SS card, so I will be forced to go in and try to get my Ohio DL (I've tried twice before but was refused each time).
I got home from work too late yesterday to call them, because TransUnion has reduced their hours AND they've stopped their Saturday customer/technical service altogether because of COVID-19. Yay.
I called Summit CU again and they said it's still frozen. The agent suggested I use TU's website to make an account and request it be unfrozen. On Chrome, whether a regular tab or incognito, the submit button didn't work - even with Ghostery off and, on Edge, it gave a vague error message that something wasn't working right and to try again later.
I called Summit back and asked them to look at Experian or Equifax but the agent said she can't. I asked for a supervisor. The man who answered claimed to be a manager and, despite explaining the challenges I face (including being unable to do an inter-credit-union transfer to pay my rent), he said there was nothing he could do. He refused to let me escalate higher and said that was his final answer. He said they only have a contract with TransUnion and refused to look at a report from the other two. He really evinced an attitude of "I really don't care." I told him to close my children's accounts and I'll close my checking and savings accounts (I have to keep BOTH for my debit card). I'm opening an account at the credit union within walking distances because I HATE banks. At a time when COVID-19 is messing up people's lives, and he KNEW that my car is dying, I need a loan, and I have a problem getting my rent paid, he wasn't willing to do anything other than say "I'm trying to help you" when he was actually refusing to help me. That speaks volumes about Summit Credit Union - which I've used since 2017 (after returning from Indonesia).
I have a dying car and a serious need to get a loan to replace it but because TransUnion screwed up, I can't even do that. Summit Credit Union only uses TransUnion, so I'm leaving them because they refused to help. I'd leave TransUnion if I had a choice! This isn't as bad as Experian, Equifax and LifeLabs ALL having been hacked in the past 5 years, of course, but it sure burns my toast!
Credit bureaus have too much power and too little accountability!
I had left a message on TransUnion's Facebook page about my problem last week, too.
Monday, I called them and discovered that, a full week after I'd called and 5 days after the 48-hour-deadline, they'd finally removed the freeze on my account.
Wednesday, I got both a message on Facebook and a text message from someone at TransUnion offering to help. After the problem was resolved, not before.
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