Credit File- Hard Searches applied without my comsent.

[Rippedoff123]

I recently went to 2 x local car dealerships with a view to purchasing a car.
I had already been pre-approved for HP finance so was not
looking to necessarily purchase using the dealers finance. At both garages I enquired about 1 x vehicle. I advised the salespersonel that I already had finance in place so wasn’t looking to apply further.
Both sales personnel spoke with me about their lenders and I agreed that both dealerships could carry out soft searches on me to see where I might stand in regards to maybe getting a lower possible APR.
I was very clear in my dealings with both garages that I was only agreeing to soft searches as I didn’t want my credit file
impacted.. I was very much assured on both occasions that a soft search was all that would happen.

However today I have received an email from one finance company asking me to login and sign my loan application. I did not agree to this.
I have also been informed by transunion that I have x3 hard searches going on my credit file. I absolutely did not consent to this. How can I escalate this and get all of these hard searches removed immediately. I am soo cross as it seems I was completely deceived by both dealerships. I am still without a car and now my credit worthiness (score) is in its boots. If I don’t have a car I can’t work as I am a community nurse. Please help.

[DE DOGS]

This comment is I hope helpful to other members. Never trust one word a Car dealer tells you.

[R0b]

You probably want to approach this from multiple angles at the same time rather than rely on one specific route.

1. Go to the dealership and raise a complaint with the manager asking for an explanation when you specifically told the sales agent that no hard searches were needed because you have already have an agreement in principle. Don't let them fob you off and demand (politely) what they are going to do to rectify their error which you hold them responsible for.

2. Contact the lender directly but I would probably avoid going through the usual customer service route as you may end up going round in circles. Check the lender's website and their privacy policy and see if they have an email address or a correspondence address for the data privacy team. Write your complaint directly to them, explaining the situation and what outcome you want. You could even go as far as saying the credit search was unauthorised and therefore you consider it to be a fraudulent search and should be removed immediately.

3. Contact the credit reference agencies that have reported the hard search along the same lines as your response to the lender and ask them to request the removal of it immediately. They will not remove it themselves but might go back to the lender and ask for clarification on whether it should be removed.