I recently had to check my credit report and noticed numerous hard inquiries on my credit report - all listed as CHASE and all with the same address. I also noticed that these inquiries were showing up on a fairly regular basis, one to two times per month and going back about eight months. Although I did apply for an Amazon.com Visa card through Chase about a year ago, I haven't made any subsequent applications. I contacted both the CHASE fraud unit and the CHASE Credit Bureau Services Unit (CBSU). The CBSU notified the credit bureaus to have the prior inquiries removed and the fraud unit said they would open an investigation. The fraud unit and CBSU said they suspected someone was using my identity to try and get credit, but I suspected that there is a glitch in the CHASE/Amazon application system which is causing auto applications to go through. The inquiries kept coming - and about once a month I'd get a letter from Chase stating my application for the AMAZON.com Visa Signature card was declined.
I then put a freeze with Equifax. But I am still seeing that these queries are coming in, as I am now not getting a monthly letter which doesn't say "your application was declined", but a letter which says "we are unable to obtain your credit report because it contains a security freeze". Seems like a victory for me, but not really. Having the security freeze is a nuissance and if I ever wish to remove it, these auto inquiries will again cause my score to go down. So I called Chase again. The CBSU department transfered me to the fraud unit - and again I said I suspected that these are auto-generated applications. However, the fraud unit refused to tell me what was the outcome of the earlier investigation or if it was closed or still ongoing. They added if I wish to get additional information about each of the "applications", I need to send them a written letter to a CHASE address, yet they were highly reluctant to even give me that address. I asked if I could talk to the investigations team and they said the investigations team will only speak to law enforcement personnel.
It seems now that my only option is to report this to law enforcement and hope they get through to Chase investigations. Might anyone in here have any other suggestions?
Thanks!
