Experian sending fake hard inquiry alerts during monitoring trial?

[starting_over30]

I recently obtained all 3 of my Fico scores, bought TransUnion and Equifax on this site, and Experian directly on their website.

The Experian report was $1 and came with a 9 day credit monitoring trial.  I still have a few days left of the trial and received an e-mail today that there has been a hard inquiry from "GEMB/LOWE'S" on my credit report.  I have not applied for any credit so I should not be getting any inquiries.

When I click the link to go to the dispute center I'm redirected from Experieandirect.com to Experian.com, but this hard inquiry doesn't show up.

The timing all seems suspicious.  Could this possibly just be a ploy to keep people signed up for their credit monitoring service?  It just seems fishy that my first time possibly dealing with identity theft is during a 9 day trial period of this monitoring service.

Or do you think Experian.com is just slow to update, or do I have to recheck my credit?  The report on Experian.com has the report's date as todays date so it appears to be up to date, but then why is it not showing this supposed hard inquiry that this service claims I received?

[starting_over30]

Anybody?

[fot1]

Did it say "hard inquiry" on the report? Did you check you other reports? It does sound strange.. Also the score you purchased wasn't your Fico score. YOu can only get your Experian  fico score from a lender or PSECU.

[starting_over30]

The hard inquiry came as a result of Experian's credit monitoring service that I'm currently in trial period for.  I don't have credit monitoring service on Transunion or Equifax, and these reports were purchased before this hard inquiry came in yesterday.

The actual report hasn't changed but I'm not sure if it is supposed to.  The credit monitoring service appears to be seperate from the actual report.  When I click to dispute the hard inquiry it goes from Experiandirect.com to Experian.com and it specifically notifies me I'm going to a different website.

The whole thing just sounds odd to me, as if Experiandirect.com is actually another company, (maybe it is?).  I really have no clue what is going on but it all seems fishy to me.  Was hoping others would have a similar experience to explain what exactly is going on and if I really did have a hard inquiry or not.

By the way, thanks for mentioning that about the fico score.  That makes sense because last month I ran my credit to buy a car and 3 different dealerships all came back with a similar credit rating about 50 points lower than what is said from the Experian report (I know at least one of them was run from Experian).

[starting_over30]

Ok I just got off the phone and found out apparently somebody was trying to open a line of credit with my information.  It was reported by Equifax, not Experian which is why the inquiry doesn't show on Experian's report, but the monitoring service from Experian still picked it up.  I had to call the company that placed the inquiry to confirm someone really did try to open credit with my information.

However, I found some startling things that I was not aware of.  I assumed buying my credit report directly from Experian.com would be the safest bet, but actually that is NOT Experian but just an online division - The girl I was talking to from the number I got on Experian.com's website gave me the real number for Experian.  It sounds like Experian is so cheap they simply contracted with a company to handle their online side of business.  The most disturbing thing is that after calling directly to Experian I realized that there is absolutely no way to speak with an actual human.  Either you have to submit fraud using their phone's automated system or submit it online. 

This was not the case with Equifax or TransUnion, for those I was able to speak with a human when calling both credit bureau's  regarding this issue. 

If this is true isn't that illegal?  I thought I was dealing with Experian and now my credit information has possibly been leaked, conveniently enough for Experian this happened during their monitoring service's trial period!!

Experian may not be at fault, I did recently buy a car, however the person who submitted the credit application used an address I did not provide to any dealerships but is currently listed as my current address on my credit reports because it hasn't been updated yet.

Sorry, but am I being a bit paranoid to go as far as blaming Experian for deliberately leaking my information to get people to sign up for this service?  It all just seems too obvious to me....but I don't know....Now the question is what do I do now?  I just finished calling all 3 to put a freeze on my file so I'll get called if anybody tries to open credit in my name.....should I call the police? 

[starting_over30]

anybody?