Credit inquiries fall into two general categories: hard inquiries and soft inquiries.
Hard inquiries appear when a potential lender checks a consumer's credit report or credit reports as a result of the consumer applying for new credit. Hard inquiries impact a credit score negatively, and appear on a credit report for two years. The effects of a hard inquiry on a FICO score fade after six months, are negligible after a year, and as mentioned disappear after two years. Fair Isaac & Co., the creator of the FICO scoring algorithm, score all vehicle loan-related hard inquiries that occur in 30-45 days as one hard inquiry. The same is true for mortgage-related hard inquiries. The result is a person shopping for a vehicle or mortgage loan is not penalized for multiple related hard inquiries.
Soft inquiries appear when a company pulls a consumer's credit report without your prior authorization, or when a consumer pulls their own report. For example, an unsolicited pre-approval from a credit card issuer results in a soft inquiry. Soft inquiries are not disclosed to potential lenders when they pull a credit report, and they do not affect a consumer's credit score. The primary purpose of soft inquiries is to allow the consumer to see who has been reviewing their credit report
Removing a Hard Inquiry
A consumer may dispute a hard inquiry if the consumer did not authorize it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act § 604(c)(3). If you notice a hard inquiry you did not authorize, then send a letter to the creditor and ask it to remove the unauthorized inquiry from your credit report. If that is ineffective, then dispute your credit report with each of the credit reporting agencies that show the hard inquiry.
Consider disputing hard inquiries only if there are many you did not authorize. However, if you opened an account with a bank, credit union, or credit card issuer, or got a car loan or mortgage, these legitimate hard inquiries are accurate and were authorized, and therefore cannot be disputed.
Credit inquiries fall into two general categories: hard inquiries and soft inquiries.
Hard inquiries appear when a potential lender checks a consumer's credit report or credit reports as a result of the consumer applying for new credit. Hard inquiries impact a credit score negatively, and appear on a credit report for two years. The effects of a hard inquiry on a FICO score fade after six months, are negligible after a year, and as mentioned disappear after two years. Fair Isaac & Co., the creator of the FICO scoring algorithm, score all vehicle loan-related hard inquiries that occur in 30-45 days as one hard inquiry. The same is true for mortgage-related hard inquiries. The result is a person shopping for a vehicle or mortgage loan is not penalized for multiple related hard inquiries.
Soft inquiries appear when a company pulls a consumer's credit report without your prior authorization, or when a consumer pulls their own report. For example, an unsolicited pre-approval from a credit card issuer results in a soft inquiry. Soft inquiries are not disclosed to potential lenders when they pull a credit report, and they do not affect a consumer's credit score. The primary purpose of soft inquiries is to allow the consumer to see who has been reviewing their credit report
Removing a Hard Inquiry
A consumer may dispute a hard inquiry if the consumer did not authorize it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act § 604(c)(3). If you notice a hard inquiry you did not authorize, then send a letter to the creditor and ask it to remove the unauthorized inquiry from your credit report. If that is ineffective, then dispute your credit report with each of the credit reporting agencies that show the hard inquiry.
Consider disputing hard inquiries only if there are many you did not authorize. However, if you opened an account with a bank, credit union, or credit card issuer, or got a car loan or mortgage, these legitimate hard inquiries are accurate and were authorized, and therefore cannot be disputed.