Got denied after false inquiries because of wrong SSN

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, 

I've been in this war for months now. I'm a college student, and I really wanted to start building credit early. 
I got a part-time job, so I do have income. 
I applied for a Journey from Capital One, and got denied because they were "Unable to verify SSN". 
I thought, "huh, weird," and thought I got denied because of the lack of credit history. 
So I applied for a Discover Secured card. Got denied for the same reason.

I called Discover, and they told me that is because Equifax had a wrong SSN for me on file. 
I called Equifax (very tedious process, it was terrible), and they told me that it is the case. I mailed them and the other 2 CBs my SSN card and my state ID. They all fixed it. 
I actually got an offer in the mail from Discover. So I thought that now I can finally apply. 
Got denied because of "HIGH NUMBER OF RECENT INQUIRIES." 

Well, what the hell? Those inquiries weren't really valid, as it's because of a simple mistake (not mine too). 
The lady on the phone from Discover told me that I'll find everything out in the letter that I'll get in the mail. I know what it's gonna say, though, it's gonna be "Improve your credit, bla bla bla" 

After I went through numerous letters, phone calls, hours on hold, I get denied because of those false inquiries? 
What do I do now? 

Thank you so much in advance, I just don't know how to end this hell anymore. 

[Anonymous]

I can’t promise this will work, but if I were in your shoes this is what I would do...retrieve your credit report from the 3 major repositories (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union).  You can get your free copy of each from annual credit report dot com.  Then report by report I would dispute every inquiry except the one you did with Discover recently.  The basis for your dispute is that it is not against your profile.  They had the wrong SSN so it’s not technically your application.

Be careful that you do not lie or elaborate.  Lying could be really bad for you.  Elaborating usually leads to a story and stories can be used to justify not removing the inquiry.

If this doesn’t work report the credit reporting agencies to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Companies have 14 days to respond to your complaint.  Be short and to the point.

Lastly, subscribe to the monthly 3b MyFICO product to stay on top of your credit until you are certain all of this is behind you.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much!

That sounds really harsh, though...
I was thinking of just calling them and explaining the situation as is. 
Do you think that's not gonna work? 

Only Equifax has all 3 inquiries, TransUnion only has Capital One, and Experian has nothing (at least that's what they told me over the phone, the system doesn't let me pull a credit report from them).

[AverageJoesCredit]

Ok, i understand the wrong ssn. But you did apply so those inquires still count .

[Anonymous]

Another option is to wait 6 to 12mos.  It didn’t register with me at first that you’re only talking about 3 inquiries.  3 inquiries is hardly excessive.

[Anonymous]

Apparently, excessive enough for them. 
Or, maybe I should just apply for a secured credit card then?
Or would the algorithm deny me again for the same reasons? 

[UncleB]

Moving to 'General Credit' for additional exposure for wrong SS#/HP issue...

--UB

[beutiful5678]

You should be able to get an OpenSky secured card. They don't run a credit check so I think it would be pretty hard to get denied. Use it a little and PIF, let your inquiries age ~6 months, and then try Discover or Cap One again.

[beutiful5678]

Also, if I were you I would want to figure out how the bureaus got the incorrect SSN (especially if it were the same incorrect SSN across all three bureaus - clearly they got that # from somewhere). The only thing I can think of is an incorrect SSN being put down for an existing installment loan (like a student loan? or an auto loan with a cosigner?) Whether it was you inputting it incorrectly or some admin fat fingering something. I imagine this is how people end up with split files.

[RobertEG]

Did the CRA actually send your credit report to the inquiree?

If you applied for credit, the inquiree had a permissible purpose for the inquiry, so it was not a false inquiry.

The fact that some inaccuracies in the report may have led to denials does not undo the fact that the inquiry was filled and your credit information was provided to another under a permissible purpose.

I would attempt to get the inquiries recoded as soft rather than trying to have them deleted from your credit file.

The fact that others accessed your information cannot be undone, and the CRA is likely to resist any deletion based on inaccuracies.