How to Remove Hard Inquiries from Credit Report
If you have ever applied for a credit card or any type of loan from a credit firm and the creditor fished out your credit report from the credit bureau then you have interacted with hard inquiries. As a borrower, you must understand what hard inquiries mean because they can lower your chances of obtaining loans from credit companies.
What are Hard Inquiries in your Credit Report?
Any instance where a lender requests the credit bureaus to avail the credit report of a borrower to review the creditworthiness status of that borrower, we say there is a hard inquiry. The act of a lender pulling the credit report of their borrowers from the credit bureaus is what is referred to as a hard inquiry. A lender can request your credit report from any credit bureau to assess your creditworthiness.
What Hard Inquiries can do to your Credit Report
According to Credit Karma, you lose some credit score points whenever your lender requests your credit report from the credit bureaus. No matter how strong and positive your credit ratings are, your chances of securing any type of loan, be it mortgage or auto loan, will decrease the moment your lender fishes out your credit report from the credit bureaus. However, if you demonstrate commitment to improving your credit history, this decrease is only short-lived.
Hard inquiries are fortunately not long-termed because they only last for up to two years before they disappear from your credit history. Hard inquiries are generally not bad as they may seem to appear because sometimes your credit account may feature hard inquiries since your lender just wants to be sure of the best terms and conditions for granting the new loan you have just applied for. It can be difficult to remove a genuine hard inquiry but if you notice a hard inquiry that you did not authorize you should consider removing it as soon as you can.
When should you remove Hard Inquiries from your Credit Report?
Also called a hard pull, a hard inquiry may be associated with your credit account because someone may have impersonated you by creating an unauthorized loan account using your details. You should purpose to remove a hard inquiry in your credit report if you notice it is associated with fraudulent activities. A single hard inquiry may not hurt your credit history to a wider extent but if there are several hard inquiries in your credit account, there is a need for you to find ways of removing them. The more hard inquiries you have in your credit account the more you lose your chances of securing a loan soon. Any hard inquiry in your credit history should be authorized by you as the borrower. You must remove every hard inquiry that you did not authorize.
Procedure for Removing Hard Inquiries from a Credit Report
You are likely to see multiple hard inquiries in your credit account if you do not check your account regularly. You need to review your account frequently to prevent hard inquiries from multiplying. Regular checks will also ensure you notice fraudulent activities before they get worse. If the hard inquiry in your credit report is genuine, you do not need to worry because it will soon fade away on itself. However, if you have multiple hard inquiries you should try to remove them as soon as you can.
Every hard inquiry in a credit report is often accompanied by the name, address, and contacts of the company that performed the hard inquiry. Hence, if a hard inquiry in your credit report is made by a company you are not aware of, look for the company’s contacts, reach out to them and express your request to know more about the hard inquiry placed in your credit report. If the hard inquiry in your credit report is a result of identity theft or any other fraudulent activity, then follow the steps below to remove the hard inquiry.
1. Review your Credit Report
Before you consider removing the hard inquiries from your credit report you need to be sure that they are not genuine. You should review your credit report to assess which inquiries are genuine and which ones look fraudulent. Credit bureaus will never accept your request for the removal of hard inquiries if you do not have your valid credit report.
2. File a Hard Inquiry Dispute Request
If you are sure you did not authorize the hard inquiries in your credit report then you will have to file a dispute with any of the credit bureaus around. If you file a dispute with the credit bureau your credit report will instantly be placed on fraud alert for up to ninety (90) days. Creditors will have to verify your account details before approving any credit to your account throughout the given period of 90 days.
3. Review the Hard Inquiries in Your Credit Report
After filing taking your dispute to the credit bureau, you will be expected to verify the information in your credit report. You should assess every detail to confirm the legitimate and illegitimate hard inquiries in your credit report. Specialists from the credit bureau will assist you in reviewing your details.
4. Wait for Credit Bureau to Review your Credit Report
The credit bureau will review your credit report for some days before deciding the removal of hard inquiries from your credit history. Officials from the credit bureau will delete the hard inquiries in your credit report if they are found to be illegitimate. If the hard inquiries are genuine they cannot be deleted. Genuine hard inquiries will automatically clear from your credit report after not more than 12 months.
Additional Information about Hard Inquiries
A hard pull can tarnish your credit reputation if you are not careful enough. However, it is normal for a credit account or a credit card to feature hard inquiries. Therefore, you should frequently check your credit report to determine which hard inquiries are genuine and which one are results of fraudulent activities associated with your account. Spontaneous drops in your credit score may indicate the presence of hard inquiries in your credit history. You will be in a better position to eliminate illegitimate hard inquiries if you constantly assess your credit report and history.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Hard Inquiry?
A hard inquiry is when your lender fishes out your credit report from the credit bureau
Are hard inquiries bad?
Yes, because they can tarnish your creditworthiness by lowering your credit scores.
