Credit inquiries occur when someone accesses your credit report. While soft inquiries don’t affect your score, unauthorized hard inquiries can lower it and indicate potential identity theft.
Hard vs. Soft Inquiries
Hard inquiries occur when a lender or creditor checks your credit as part of a lending decision. They can lower your score by a few points and remain on your report for 2 years.
Soft inquiries occur when you check your own credit, when a company pre-approves you for an offer, or when an employer checks your credit with consent. Soft inquiries do not affect your score.
When to Dispute an Inquiry
You should dispute a hard inquiry if:
- You did not authorize the credit check
- The company did not have a “permissible purpose” under FCRA §1681b
- You do not recognize the company
- The inquiry may be the result of identity theft
How to Dispute an Inquiry
- Identify the inquiry — note the company name, date, and which bureau’s report it appears on
- Contact the company — ask them to remove the inquiry if it was unauthorized
- Dispute with the bureau — file a formal dispute citing FCRA §1681b (permissible purposes)
- File an FTC complaint — if the inquiry was unauthorized and the company won’t cooperate, file a complaint at IdentityTheft.gov
⚠️ Important: Inquiries you authorized (by applying for credit) are legitimate and cannot be disputed simply because you want them removed. Only truly unauthorized inquiries should be disputed.
💡 Rate Shopping Tip: Multiple inquiries for the same type of credit (e.g., mortgage or auto) within a 14–45 day window are typically counted as a single inquiry for scoring purposes.