Before we answer the question
- how do you delete inquiries on a credit report, I'll
discuss what inquiries are. First of all an inquiry means
that someone took a look at your credit report. Your credit
report is used by creditors and lenders to decide whether or
not they will grant you credit. They are used by insurance
companies to decide whether or not they will cover you with
an insurance policy and they will take a look at your credit
report, an inquiry, in order to come to a decision.
Credit reports are used by
landlords if you submit an application to rent an apartment
or house. They ask you for your social security information,
birth date and other information in order to check your
credit report and your credit rating or FICO score and this
is also an inquiry.
Another inquiry could be
from your employer or anyone you have submitted a resume to
but they can only take a look at your credit report with
your written authorization.
An inquiry could also come
in the form of unsolicited offers for credit, such as credit
cards offers or home equity loan offers. These can come in
the mail and are also called "prescreening."
If you get too many
inquiries, then creditors may consider this negative because
it could mean you are attempting to get more credit than you
can handle.
You can prevent unsolicited
credit card offers in the future from all three of the major
credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian by calling
(888) 567-8688 and asking them to remove your name from
these credit reporting agencies.
So How Do You Delete
Inquiries On A Credit Report?
Unauthorized inquiries:
Make sure to watch for any unauthorized inquiries because
thieves may have requested credit in your name. They may be
pretending they're a legitimate business or company that has
a legal right to access your credit report. You can easily
get these removed by writing a letter with documentation and
an explanation.
And now how to go about
deleting or removing other inquiries from your credit
report. There are two kinds of inquiries. There are "soft"
inquiries and "hard" inquiries. "Soft" inquiries will not
affect your FICO score. It's only viewed by you and does not
impact your credit score. When you request a copy of your
credit report you will be noted as an inquiry, a "soft"
inquiry. Any of the creditors you have now can take a look
at your credit report during your association with them and
these are "soft" inquiries also.
"Hard" inquiries do affect
your credit report and FICO score. When you apply for credit
whether it's for credit cards or an auto loan for example,
this will reflect on your credit score. Lenders are
concerned that you have too much outstanding credit now and
only so much income. They want to be assured you'll have no
problem paying it back.
These inquiries will expire
naturally in two years. You may not be able to remove them
before that if they're correct. If there are any inquiries
that you have not authorized you can get them deleted by
writing a letter to the credit bureaus or credit reporting
agencies that listed them.
The exception to the above
is that if you have two inquiries from the same source you
may be able to get them merged so that one is deleted. For
example if you applied for a credit card and it was
approved, you may be listed twice, first as the applicant
and then after approval.
Inquiries that have been on
your credit report for more than six months are usually not
taken into account when creditors or lenders consider
granting credit or loans. So if your concern is for an
inquiry that is more than six months old it may not be a
concern at all.
So the above examples will
answer the question - how do you delete inquiries on a
credit report - if they can be removed or repaired. If not,
time will remove them automatically. In any case, you should
write a letter to the credit reporting agencies to fix your
credit history for any and all inquiries that are incorrect.
From time to time laws change, so keep up to date on the
ever-changing laws that may change this. With the downturn
in the economy laws may make it easier to remove or delete
inquiries from your credit report. Stay abreast of the laws
affecting your credit report - these will be reported on
credit report websites.
