Removing unauthorized hard inquiries from your credit report

Every time you apply for credit, the lender requests permission to view your credit report so that they can make an informed lending decision. This is called a hard inquiry. While a few hard inquiries on your credit report aren't going to affect your score, too many hard inquiries in the last 6 months can lower your credit score. Luckily there are ways to remove certain hard inquiries from your credit report, which can raise your score.

The way you're going to do this is by opening a dispute with the credit bureaus. First, make sure the hard inquiry is actually worth disputing. You never want to dispute an inquiry from an entity which ended up extending you credit. Good inquiries to dispute are those which you don't recognize.

In many cases a single hard inquiry will have little to no effect on your credit score. You may notice your score dip by a few points, but it should recover quickly within a few months. Hard inquiries are very common for most types of loans, credit lines, mortgages, and even for apartment rentals. Everyone who has ever applied for credit has hard inquiries performed, so they are not inherently bad.

On the other hand, while a hard inquiry is a required part of getting a loan and therefore keeping good credit, too many hard inquiries may become a problem for you. Too many hard inquiries on your credit report is a sign that you are attempting to take out too many loans. For lenders, this could be a sign that you are risky borrower, and hurts your chances of being approved for credit. A good rule of thumb is that each hard inquiry on your credit report within the last two years is reducing your credit score by 3-7 points, which can easily add up to 70-100 points or more depending on how many you have.

While a legitimate hard inquiry can stay on your credit report for two years, some hard inquiries may be unauthorized - and you should dispute these in order to get them promptly removed from your credit report. Unauthorized inquiries could be the result of a simple mistake or an accidental double inquiry, or it could be the result of questionable practices by an unethical lender.

This is why it is important to regularly check your own credit records against your credit report.

If you want to keep good credit (or repair your credit), you should be regularly checking your credit reports to look for mistakes. In most cases, a credit bureau is not going to catch incorrect information or marks on your credit report unless you say something about them.

The section on your credit report containing hard inquiries will either say "inquiries" or "requests viewed by others", depending on who which credit bureau you're checking, and who your credit report provider is. Be sure you are not looking at soft inquiries, as these are requests you have made to view your own credit - and do not affect your score.

It is possible to remove inquiries from your credit report if they meet one of two criteria. Either:

If you find any inconsistencies or unauthorized hard inquiries, dispute them immediately.

Sometimes, legitimate hard inquiries can appear to be unauthorized even though they are not. For example, if you worked with a credit broker then they may have submitted multiple applications to multiple lenders on your behalf. Each company they applied to would generate a separate hard inquiry, even if you only took out one loan. However, each of these hard inquiries is technically still legitimate. Always be cautious when working with credit brokers, car dealerships, etc and be sure you know who they will be authorizing to pull your credit.

True unauthorized hard inquiries may appear on your credit report due to issues such as:

The issues here range from accidents to intentional identity theft, which illustrates why it is so important to regularly check your credit.

If you suspect identity theft or fraud, then you will want to put a fraud alert on your credit reports as well as report the theft to the the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and your local police department. If a false account appears on your credit report following the fraudulent hard inquiry, contact the creditor immediately to close the account.

If you find unauthorized hard inquiries on your credit report, it is time to remove them by filing a dispute.

When you file a dispute for an unauthorized hard inquiry, the credit bureau is required to investigate and correct any false information they find within 30 days of your dispute.

Filing a dispute with each of the major credit bureaus is simple enough, especially with the right tools at your disposal. Disputebee can help with this process, providing you the tools to file a dispute with the major bureaus, including Equifax, Transunion, and Experian.

If the bureau investigates the inquiry and finds that it is unauthorized, they will remove the inquiry from your credit report and notify you of the removal.

In most cases, having a few hard inquiries is not going to affect your credit score in a significant way. Having too many hard inquiries (six or more inquiries within the last six months) may be a red flag for lenders. Sometimes these hard inquiries may be unauthorized, and you have every right to dispute these unauthorized inquiries in order to get them removed.