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Reviewed By:
Ashley Davison
Ashley Davison
Editor
Ashley is currently the Chief Compliance Officer for Credit Saint, previously the Chief Operating Officer. Ashley got into the Financial world by working as a Logistics Coordinator at Ernst & Young. Coming from a previous career in education, she is eager to teach the world every...
Credit inquiries are a normal part of borrowing, but unauthorized ones can weigh on your credit score. You can dispute an inquiry you didn’t authorize with the credit bureau and with the company that pulled your report.
Every time a company pulls your credit report, a record of that check is added to the file. Most are routine. Some are not.
When an inquiry is unauthorized, inaccurate or tied to identity theft, it can weigh on your score for months. Federal law gives you the right to dispute it.
Key Takeaways
The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book (2024) recorded 449,032 credit card identity theft reports, the top identity theft category. Fraudulent applications can show up as hard inquiries you didn’t authorize.
Hard inquiries stay on a credit report for two years, and FICO Scores only count them for 12 months.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives consumers the right to dispute unauthorized or inaccurate inquiries with both the credit bureaus and the creditor that pulled the report.
What Is a Credit Inquiry?
A credit inquiry is a record of any time a company or person requests a copy of a credit report. The three major U.S. credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, log each of these requests on the corresponding report. Inquiries fall into two categories: hard inquiries (sometimes called hard pulls) and soft inquiries (soft pulls).
The difference matters because only one of the two can actually influence a credit score.
Hard Credit Inquiries
A hard inquiry happens when a lender checks credit for a lending decision, typically after someone applies for a credit card, mortgage, auto loan or personal loan.
Hard inquiries can temporarily reduce a credit score by a few points and stay on a report for two years. Because many creditors pull only one of the three bureaus’ reports, it’s common for a hard inquiry to appear on just one report rather than all three.
Soft Credit Inquiries
A soft inquiry is a record of a credit check made for a non-lending reason. Common examples include:
Checking a personal credit report through a bureau or a credit monitoring service
A current creditor reviewing an existing account
An employer (or potential employer) running a credit check
Submitting a pre-approval or pre-qualification before a formal application
Receiving a firm offer of credit or insurance, such as a pre-screened mailer for a credit card or loan
A credit file may carry many soft inquiries, but they never impact credit scores and generally don’t appear on the version of a credit report that most creditors receive.
Hard vs. Soft Credit Inquiries
Hard Inquiries
Soft Inquiries
Impacts credit scores
Potentially
Never
Happens when
Credit is checked for a lending decision
Credit is checked for a non-lending reason
Requires permission
Yes
Sometimes
Stays on report for
2 years
2 years
Impacts scores for
Up to 12 months (FICO)
No score impact
How Credit Inquiries Can Affect a Credit Score
When a hard inquiry does hurt your score, the impact depends on your full credit profile. According to FICO, one additional inquiry takes less than five points off FICO Scores for most people. FICO Scores only count inquiries from the last 12 months.
Multiple hard inquiries in a short window can lead to larger drops, since someone applying for several new accounts at once may represent higher risk. However, credit scoring models also recognize that shopping for the best rate isn’t the same as credit-seeking desperation.
FICO and VantageScore, the two main U.S. credit scoring companies, handle rate shopping slightly differently:
VantageScore deduplication: multiple inquiries from credit applications (including credit cards) within a 14-day window count as a single hard inquiry.
FICO deduplication: multiple hard inquiries for student loans, auto loans, and mortgages within a 14- to 45-day window (depending on the FICO version) count as one inquiry.
FICO buffer: inquiries from the previous 30 days for student, auto, and mortgage loans don’t impact FICO scores at all.
In practice, this means rate shopping for an auto loan, mortgage, or student loan through several lenders typically won’t result in a bigger score hit than a single application, even if the credit report shows a flurry of new hard inquiries.
How to Remove Credit Inquiries from a Credit Report
An inquiry can end up on a credit report for reasons that don’t belong there, including identity theft or a creditor pulling a report without a permissible purpose.
The FTC’s 2024 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book logged 449,032 credit card identity theft reports in 2024, making credit card fraud the top identity theft category reported to the agency. A fraudulent application can leave a hard inquiry you never authorized.
Here are the main paths to challenge an inquiry:
Review for accuracy. Pull credit reports from all three major bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) and confirm that every hard inquiry was authorized.
Dispute unauthorized inquiries. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) grants consumers the right to dispute inaccurate information on a credit report. A written dispute can be sent to the credit bureau and to the company that made the inquiry, explaining that the check was not authorized.
Ask for a goodwill removal. If the inquiry was legitimate, you can politely ask the creditor to remove it as a goodwill gesture. The creditor may say no, and an accurate inquiry can legally stay on your report for two years.
Let it expire. Hard inquiries typically impact FICO scores for up to 12 months and fall off the report entirely after two years. If an inquiry is close to expiring, waiting it out may be the simplest option.
Spotting which inquiries are legitimate isn’t always simple, since the name on your report may not match the brand you know. If that’s more work than you have time for, a reputable credit repair company can handle the disputes for you. Start a free credit review.
A dispute can be submitted directly to a credit bureau by mail, phone, or online. Once filed, the bureau generally has 30 days to investigate. The bureau contacts the creditor that pulled the report and attempts to verify the creditor had the right to do so.
The bureau then sends a written response with the result. It may determine the inquiry was accurate and leave the report unchanged, or it may find an error and either correct or delete the inquiry. Because each bureau maintains its own database, separate disputes may need to be filed with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Disputing an Inquiry With the Creditor
A dispute can also (or instead) be filed directly with the creditor that ran the credit check. If the credit check isn’t remembered or authorized, the creditor should be able to produce a copy or recording of the application showing permission was given.
If the creditor can’t verify authorization, a request can be made to have the bureaus remove the unauthorized hard inquiry.
A hard inquiry shouldn’t be disputed when permission was actually given, because that’s a legitimate record of the application. And if the inquiry led to an open account, claiming the inquiry was unauthorized may prompt the creditor to close the account under suspicion of fraud.
How to Help Prevent Unauthorized Credit Inquiries
Because hard inquiries stem from new credit applications, limiting new applications is the most direct way to control how many hard inquiries are added to a credit file. But some inquiries happen without permission, either from a creditor pulling a report inappropriately or from someone using stolen information to apply for credit.
A few free steps can help you stop unauthorized inquiries before they happen:
Freeze your credit. A credit freeze blocks most new creditors from seeing your report. It’s free to place and lift at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and you can lift it when you apply for credit.
Place a fraud alert. A fraud alert tells lenders to verify your identity before opening new credit. It’s free, and you only need to contact one bureau, which tells the other two.
Check your reports often. You can get your reports from all three bureaus for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. Look for inquiries from companies you don’t recognize.
Apply only when you need to. Each new application can add a hard inquiry, so space out applications when you can.
Hard inquiries remain on a credit report for two years. FICO Scores only count them for 12 months.
No. Soft inquiries, such as checking your own credit report, pre-qualification pulls or employer checks, never impact a credit score, and most don’t appear on the version of the report lenders see.
An unauthorized or inaccurate hard inquiry can be disputed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act with both the credit bureau and the creditor that made the inquiry. An accurate inquiry can legally stay until it expires after two years. You can ask the creditor for a goodwill removal, but it may say no.
For most people, one additional inquiry takes less than five points off their FICO Scores, according to FICO. The exact effect depends on your overall credit profile, and FICO Scores only count inquiries from the last 12 months.
For mortgages, auto loans, and student loans, FICO groups multiple inquiries made within a 14- to 45-day window (depending on the FICO version) into a single inquiry. VantageScore applies a 14-day window across most types of credit applications, including credit cards.
A credit freeze blocks most new creditors from accessing a credit report until the freeze is lifted, which can help prevent unauthorized hard inquiries from identity theft. It’s free to place and lift at each of the three major bureaus.
Bottom Line on Removing Credit Inquiries
A hard inquiry is added when a lender checks your credit for a lending decision, while soft inquiries never affect your score. Hard inquiries stay on your report for two years, but FICO Scores only count them for 12 months.
If you spot one you didn’t authorize, dispute it with the credit bureau and the creditor. An accurate inquiry can stay until it expires.
Reviewed By:
Ashley Davison
Editor
Ashley is currently the Chief Compliance Officer for Credit Saint, previously the Chief Operating Officer. Ashley got into the Financial world by working as a Logistics Coordinator at Ernst & Young. Coming from a previous career in education, she is eager to teach the world everything she knows and learn everything that she doesn’t! Ashley is a FICO® certified professional, a Board Certified Credit Consultant, a Certified Credit Score Consultant with the Credit Consultants Association of America, UDAAP certified, and holds a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Compliance Certificate.
