Sample letter to remove credit inquiry and fix credit score

Submitted by Richard on Sat, 07/22/2006 - 06:02
Forums
Credit repair

Hi,

We often notice unauthorized hard inquiries made by creditors listed in our credit report. These inquiries hamper our credit profile and cause problems in acquiring credit benefits. I have prepared a sample letter that you may use to ask the creditor to remove the inquiry and it will also help you to know how to get credit inquiries removed. Please make sure that you use fax or certified mail instead of ordinary mail in order to get a prompt response.

Your Name __________
Your Address __________
Your Phone # __________

Creditor's Name _____________
Creditor's Address ____________

Date ___________

Dear Sir or Madam,

RE: Unauthorized credit inquiry

While checking my personal credit report, which I acquired from [insert Credit bureau name], I notice an inquiry made by your organization.

Since I have not, to the best of my knowledge, authorized anyone employed by your organization to make an inquiry, you are not legally entitled to make the inquiry. Therefore, I request that you contact the concerned credit bureau and remove the unauthorized hard inquiry immediately, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 1681b(c): Transactions Not Initiated by Consumer. I also request that you remove my personal information from your records. Please send me a written confirmation that you have complied with my requests.

If you believe that you posses sufficient documentation that supports your authorization to make the inquiry, please send me a copy to my current address so that I may verify its validity.

Sincerely,

Your Signature ______________

Your Name ______________

Aaron

Hi Guest,

Can you tell me whether or not this inquiry was done without your knowledge? If it was done without your knowledge, you can first try to dispute the hard inquiry with the creditor itself. Send the dispute letter through certified mail, requesting a return receipt. If they don't comply to your request, you can then send certified dispute letter to the credit bureaus.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Aaron

Mon, 04/19/2010 - 10:01 Permalink
benben7 (not verified)

can a hard inquiry be changed from a hard to soft? For example I applied to open a bank account and they did a hard inquiry. Can this be changed to a soft one.

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 22:30 Permalink
Aaron

Hi Benben,

No a hard inquiry cannot be changed to a sift inquiry. Every time you apply for a loan, or a credit card, the lender or the credit card company will run a check on your credit report. This is known as hard inquiry. When you pull your credit report, it is known as the soft pull or soft inquiry.

Hard inquiries can stay on your credit report for 2 years, and can hurt your score by 2-10 points.

Thanks,

Aaron

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 11:58 Permalink
Belinda (not verified)

After paying off the Collection Agency with the amount they said that I owed..they then turned around and request transunion my credit report w/c was Hard Inquiry...is this legal

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 07:08 Permalink
JPerry

I have inquires on my report older than 2 years what should I do?

Sun, 07/25/2010 - 13:36 Permalink
Aaron

Hi Jperry,

You need to dispute those with the credit bureaus. In the letter to the bureaus mention the reason, and if possible also attach a copy of your report with the items to be disputed underlined.

You can use the sample dispute letter available with this community.

Thanks,

Aaron

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 12:21 Permalink
JPerry

Aaron or anyone with knowledge, if I had a credit repair company sending debt validation out on my behalf, but not getting the proper updates or results. Should I then just do my own credit repair and send the letters out myself? Lexington Law is sending debt validation to the same companies every 2-3 months, but the thing is they are not telling me if the companies are responding or not. I'm paying $80 per month and now I feel I should go through the process myself. Also would you know if you can do a Pay To Delete for a judgment or does it stay on your credit for 7 yrs. regardless?

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 15:34 Permalink
Aaron

Hi Jperry,

It is better to repair your credit yourself. You can send the debt validation letters yourself to the collection agencies, and need not take help from Lexington Law, or any other credit repair companies. I think you should cancel the service, and try repairing your credit on your own.

Thanks,

Aaron

Tue, 07/27/2010 - 11:43 Permalink
shiela_stearns

Excellent Sample Letter! This could help to grab an idea to make a letter for unauthorized credit inquiries. I have so many credit inquiries without my permission and it is hurting my credit report. Thank you so much!

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 05:20 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Thanks alot!!!

Wed, 08/04/2010 - 16:51 Permalink
Laudeegirl (not verified)

I have recently had 28 hard inquiries removed from Transunion, 18 for Equifax, and 13 from Experian. I have requested validation from 11 CA accounts as so far 7 have been deleted off my reports. I have settled for delete on 3 accounts. Point is....Don't give up. Keep records and always follow up. This can be done.

Thu, 09/02/2010 - 19:51 Permalink
Louie R. (not verified)

I paid off a lot of my collections but still appers on my credit report how can I remove them to improve my credit score?????

Fri, 09/24/2010 - 22:07 Permalink
Aaron

Hi louie,

You can try removing those through goodwill letters. If this does not work out, they are there to stay on your credit report from 7 years.

Thanks,

Aaron

Sat, 09/25/2010 - 08:52 Permalink
jazzyme58 (not verified)

I have several inquiries that are valid due to the fact that I applied two times each to different companys for credit and was finally approved. any way I can get some of the inquiries removed at the same company?

Wed, 11/24/2010 - 13:59 Permalink
RichardW (not verified)

I just sent 11 copies of this letter out certified to 11 different creditors. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 17:55 Permalink
Riichlittle (not verified)

this formated letters are they general or specifically list each hard inquiry-what type of letters are they

Fri, 02/18/2011 - 04:06 Permalink
Sara C (not verified)

I went to a timeshare presentation and before they tried to run my credit i told them that i didnt want to b/c i did not want any more inquiries on my report. They told me several times that what they run was a soft inquiry and it would not show up on my CR. so i filled out the form and proceeded. now, 2 days later it shows up as a hard inquiry. i called the company and all they could say was sorry and they thought it would be a soft inquiry. can i dispute this? please help.

Wed, 03/09/2011 - 16:46 Permalink
paruca

in 2008 I was crossing for a really bad economic situation we close the business meaning we lost jobs so actually we lost everything including the cars. I got the loan in 2004 and the bank took the car back on 2008 I need to know if I can remove this charge off from the credit since already past 7 years.

Mon, 03/14/2011 - 02:01 Permalink
Delilah Petrone (not verified)

I tried to buy a car and my credit score was 660.The lone was approved but I decided that was not the car I wanted. I went some where else and they pulled my credit and shot it every where now my score is down to 601 and no one will finance me because to many enquires. What can I do?

Mon, 07/25/2011 - 17:51 Permalink
Angelo (not verified)

Somehow when I was shopping for a car loan, I rank up 15 credit inquiries form Equifax. Is their a sample letter or wording I can use to try to eliminate some of those inquiriess...I can't wailt 2 years for their automactic removal.

Sat, 12/03/2011 - 03:01 Permalink
DavidCA (not verified)

A few months ago I declared chapter 7 bankruptcy in California. The debt was discharged on various accounts - HOWEVER some of the collection agencies and creditors show as hard inquiries ( all from 2010 ) Even though the inquiries were not authorized by me, can they be removed?

Thu, 12/22/2011 - 01:43 Permalink
Shannon (not verified)

Candiceann2003, did you notice any change in your credit score after having the credit inquiries removed? Thank you.

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 09:33 Permalink
Yas236 (not verified)

While checking my report I noticed a company of the name RELS REPORTING making several hard inquiries against my report. Not knowing who they were, I called the 1800 number and asked what this was about. They told me that they are reporting to the bank with whom I hold a mortgage my credit rating/information. I am currently working through the bank to walk away from my house, it's a very long story but basically I have an attorney who is trying to help me navigate through this, my husband passed away, he stopped making payments after him and I seperated, he then passes away 15 months after we seperate and now of course I am 100% responsible for this property since both our names are on the loan. the lender has dragged this out for over a year with absolutely NO progress, won't return any calls just sends a bunch of useless letters to my attorney with phone numbers etc... No live individual whatsoever.

But to go back to the hard inquiries, my question is would this qualify as 'legitimate debt collection even though it's not the actual lender" making the inquiry? and would the number/frequency of the inquiries listed below be considered NORMAL or harassment? as someone stated in the forum. Any input/help would be greatly appreciated.

6/11/2010
6/23/2010
9/28/2010
4/15/2011
6/22/2011

Thank you.

Wed, 04/18/2012 - 01:31 Permalink
Avi (not verified)

I sent the letter on page 1 to some inquries and just got a letter back from one asking me to give
1. A Brief description as to why the inquory wasnt authorized
2. Signature of the individual requesting it be removed
3. A letter form dealership that sent in my info

What can i write back?

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 22:16 Permalink
Bridgette (not verified)

I am new to trying to clean up my credit and I want to do it on my own.
What is the difference be hard and soft credit inquiries?
Which are the inquires that can be requested to be removed?

Wed, 12/12/2012 - 19:15 Permalink
CRE_Credit (not verified)

Experian is not going to remove those credit inquiries with any type of simple dispute letter it is against their internal policies. If you are looking to get inquiries removed from TransUnion or Equifax that is possible, but a letter as simple as that will typically not be very successful. If you have inaccurate negative items on your credit report on Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax CRE Credit Services is the most trusted and credible credit repair company in the country. You can find out more information at crecreditservices.com

Sun, 01/06/2013 - 22:18 Permalink
elenieng56 (not verified)

before 6 MONTHS I PAY ALL my debts but still there is like not paying off and I have credit is low. I have all the letters from the collectors who they sent to me that PAY.
How can I write the letters and ask of the equifax,experian,and tranunion ?

Thu, 04/11/2013 - 22:13 Permalink
creditcard1

Thanks for sharing this cover letter, it really helpful for me, keep sharing such type of information in future too.

Mon, 05/20/2013 - 11:16 Permalink
creditcard1

You have mentioned such informatics content, this sample of latter is useful for me.

Mon, 06/03/2013 - 06:35 Permalink
Jimdawg (not verified)

So, I notice some old close acct on my credit report or one that said closed by consumer. Is that hurting my credit score as well and should I mail/fax them a copy of this letter to make then removed it fr all 3 creditors?

Thanks y'all ;)
Jimdawg

Thu, 06/20/2013 - 21:43 Permalink
rblack

This is a useful letter for removing credit inquiry as well as rebuilding the credit score.

Thu, 09/19/2013 - 14:05 Permalink
vulcanbomber1@… (not verified)

We bought two cars (3 months apart) from a dealership. It turns out rather than applying for a loan at one or two places they sent out requests to over 40 places at one time for each car. When we were still getting letters of denial 4 mnths later, we called them and was informed they always send out multiple loan apps to get the best rate. What can we do to remove those inquiries as they are hurting our credit

Sun, 10/06/2013 - 16:22 Permalink
SHIRLEY REYNOLDS (not verified)

WHAT DO I DO I DIDNOT GIVE PERMISSION TO NOONE AND THERE IS TWO CREDIT CARDS ON MY CREDIT AS DEROGATORY. PLEASE HELP THIS HAS RUINED MY CREDIT AND THEN OUT OF THE BLURE BECAUSE OF THIS hOME DEPOT CANCELED MY CREDIT CARD WITH THEM.

Fri, 11/29/2013 - 02:01 Permalink
sunshine08 (not verified)

Someone please help on what I should do. I have three credit inquiries. two of which are from the same freaking company. I DIDNT notice they were the same. (gecapital) and I want them removed. I think that I should be able to get rid of the second one but if I did in fact authorize these inquiries and still want them removed is it possible?

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 04:16 Permalink
creditcard1

You have mentioned great information, it really helpful for me.

Mon, 02/17/2014 - 04:55 Permalink
crorkz (not verified)

5aCyRx I really like and appreciate your article post.Much thanks again. Will read on...

Tue, 08/05/2014 - 23:29 Permalink
Ernmahn (not verified)

Car dealers apparently submit credit requests to numerous credit providers. These providers in turn will check your credit report and create a hard inquiry. Is there any way to remove the hard inquires that do not result in credit being granted and are the multitudinous inquires considered as having permission granted thus having to stay on your report for 2 years.

Fri, 02/06/2015 - 21:02 Permalink
tori (not verified)

So I applied for a car loan u asked them not to shop my credit around but they did anyway not I have 21 hard inquiries in 3 days can I get those removed

Mon, 03/02/2015 - 22:56 Permalink
justinavash

hi guys i"m new at this forum and need help
i"m trying repair my credit , how should i send dispute letter ?
for example i have 8 negative item for experian. should i send it on separate or all in one letter?
should i send dispute letter for all my negative account ? how about account i have almost 6year.?
thanks for help.

Wed, 05/27/2015 - 05:42 Permalink