Can you remove hard inquiries from your credit reports? (2024)

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A credit inquiry is a record of when a lender or creditor requests your credit file.

While a single hard inquiry, also known as a “hard pull,” is unlikely to impact your eligibility for new credit products such as a new credit card, it can affect your credit scores for up to two years.

When reviewing hard inquiries on your credit reports, you want to make sure that they are legitimate. What does that mean? For each hard inquiry line item you see, did you authorize the creditor or lender to pull your credit? If you did, you don’t need to take any action.

But it’s possible that when you’re monitoring your credit reports that you’ll flag instances of unauthorized hard inquiries. If you find one of these, you’ll want to file a dispute with the credit bureau that generated the report and ask the bureau to remove the unauthorized inquiry.

Here’s how to dispute inaccurate hard inquiries from your credit reports.

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  • Review your credit reports
  • Look for unauthorized or incorrect hard inquiries
  • If warranted, file a dispute with the corresponding credit bureau

Review your credit reports

You should make it a habit to regularly review your credit reports from the three major consumer credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The credit bureaus may not know which information is incorrect unless you flag it.

To check for incorrect hard inquiries on your credit reports, look for a section labeled something like …

  • Credit inquiries
  • Hard inquiries
  • Requests viewed by others
  • Regular inquiries

There may also be a separate section for soft inquiries, which should be labeled something like “requests viewed only by you.” Unlike hard inquiries, soft inquiries won’t affect your credit scores.

Not sure how to read the information your credit reports? Learn more about what’s on your credit reports and how to read them.

Look for unauthorized or incorrect hard inquiries

You can request to remove hard inquiries from your credit reports if …

  1. You didn’t apply for a new credit account, or
  2. You didn’t otherwise authorize the credit inquiry

If you did apply for a credit account or authorize a hard inquiry, you can’t remove it from your reports. It remains on your credit reports as part of an accurate representation of your credit history. If that’s the case, it should fall off your reports after about two years.

Not all suspicious inquiries are fraudulent

Some inquiries may seem suspicious: You might not recognize the name of the company that made the inquiry, or there may be more inquiries than you expect. But those situations don’t necessarily indicate a mistake or fraud.

For example, you may have used a loan broker that shopped around to try to find you the best rate possible on your loan. Each application the broker submitted on your behalf could lead to an authorized inquiry, even if you only took out one loan.

If you suspect fraud act quickly

But if a hard inquiry you didn’t authorize is on your credit reports, it may be because …

  • Someone fraudulently applied for a credit account using your information
  • A creditor pulled your credit even though it didn’t have your permission
  • The credit bureau mistakenly added the inquiry to your report

If an unauthorized hard inquiry was due to someone else applying for credit with your information, it could be an indication that your identity was stolen. You might want to take some additional steps as soon as you spot the suspicious activity to help prevent further misuse of your information, such as …

  • Putting a fraud alert on your credit reports
  • Reporting the theft to the Federal Trade Commission
  • Filing a police report
  • You may even want to consider a credit freeze or locking your credit

You should also continue to check your reports to see if a fraudulent account appears following an unauthorized inquiry. If a fraudulent account appears on your credit reports, you’ll want to contact the creditor to close the account.

If a creditor pulled your credit without your permission or a credit bureau mistakenly added an inquiry to your report, the incorrect hard inquiry could still harm your credit until you take action.

No matter how it got there, you’ll want to file a dispute with the credit bureau whose report shows the incorrect hard inquiry to request that the bureau remove it.

How’s your credit?Check My Equifax® and TransUnion® Scores Now

If warranted, file a dispute with the corresponding credit bureau

If you dispute errors in your credit reports, including unauthorized hard inquiries, the credit bureaus are required to investigate. They’re also required to correct information that’s found to be inaccurate.

You can file a dispute with any of the three major consumer credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — that has an inaccurate hard inquiry recorded for you on its corresponding credit report. Credit Karma members can dispute errors on their TransUnion® report through the Credit Karma Direct Dispute™ tool.

You may be able to dispute inquiries online, but consider mailing your dispute. Look for sample credit dispute letters online, like the one available from the Federal Trade Commission, to help you draft your dispute letter.

If the credit bureau in question investigates and finds that the inquiry wasn’t authorized, it should remove the inquiry from your corresponding credit report.

What’s next

The impact a hard query has on your credit scores depends on your specific situation. For some, they have the potential to decrease scores and make it more difficult to qualify for credit while for others the barely make a difference.

Regularly checking your credit reports for unauthorized hard inquiries is a good idea either way. If you find an unauthorized or inaccurate hard inquiry, you can file a dispute letter and request that the bureau remove it from your report.

The consumer credit bureaus must investigate dispute requests unless they determine your dispute is frivolous. Still, not all disputes are accepted after investigation.

How’s your credit?Check My Equifax® and TransUnion® Scores Now

About the author: Louis DeNicola is a personal finance writer and has written for American Express, Discover and Nova Credit. In addition to being a contributing writer at Credit Karma, you can find his work on Business Insider, Cheapi… Read more.

Can you remove hard inquiries from your credit reports? (2024)

FAQs

Can you remove hard inquiries from your credit reports? ›

If you find an unauthorized or inaccurate hard inquiry, you can file a dispute letter and request that the bureau remove it from your report. The consumer credit bureaus must investigate dispute requests unless they determine your dispute is frivolous.

What is the secret way to remove hard inquiries? ›

The easiest way is to file a dispute directly with the creditor. If the creditor cooperates, the inquiry may be removed after sending a single dispute letter.

Does removing hard inquiries help credit? ›

Your credit scores might increase when hard inquiries fall off your reports, but it's more likely the event won't have any impact on your scores. Hard inquiries often only have a minor negative effect when they're added to your credit report, if they impact your credit scores at all, and the impact decreases over time.

How many points will my credit score increase when a hard inquiry is removed? ›

In most cases, hard inquiries have very little if any impact on your credit scores—and they have no effect after one year from the date the inquiry was made. So when a hard inquiry is removed from your credit reports, your scores may not improve much—or see any movement at all.

How bad is 3 hard inquiries? ›

Often no points are subtracted. However, multiple hard inquiries can deplete your score by as much as 10 points each time they happen. People with six or more recent hard inquiries are eight times as likely to file for bankruptcy than those with none.

Is it illegal to remove hard inquiries? ›

You have a legal right to request that a credit bureau remove hard inquiries from your report only when one of the following conditions applies: You did not apply for credit through the company that pulled your report. You did not authorize the company to pull a credit report.

Is it possible to remove hard inquiries? ›

Hard inquiries can't be removed, however, unless they're the result of identity theft.

How to erase hard inquiries from a credit report? ›

If you find an unauthorized or inaccurate hard inquiry, you can file a dispute letter and request that the bureau remove it from your report. The consumer credit bureaus must investigate dispute requests unless they determine your dispute is frivolous. Still, not all disputes are accepted after investigation.

How many hard pulls are too many? ›

Since hard inquiries affect your credit score and what is found may even affect approval, you might be wondering: How many inquiries is too many? The answer differs from lender to lender, but most consider six total inquiries on a report at one time to be too many to gain approval for an additional credit card or loan.

How many points is a hard inquiry? ›

How do hard inquiries impact your credit score? A hard credit inquiry could lower your credit score by as much as 10 points, though in many cases, the damage probably won't be that significant. As FICO explains, “For most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO Scores.”

Why did my credit score drop when a hard inquiry was removed? ›

Your credit score does not go up when a hard inquiry drops off your credit report. Your score will not go down when a hard inquiry drops off, either. Instead, a hard inquiry (or hard credit pull) stops having an impact on your credit score after one year, which is one year before it drops off your credit report.

How can I raise my credit score 100 points in 30 days? ›

For most people, increasing a credit score by 100 points in a month isn't going to happen. But if you pay your bills on time, eliminate your consumer debt, don't run large balances on your cards and maintain a mix of both consumer and secured borrowing, an increase in your credit could happen within months.

Why did my credit score drop 40 points for a hard inquiry? ›

The most likely reasons are: your balances increased, you recently closed accounts, you applied for new lines of credit, or there is inaccurate or fraudulent information on your account. If your credit score dropped by 40 points, this is likely due to late payments that continue to compound on past-due bills.

Should I worry about hard inquiries? ›

If you spot a hard inquiry on your credit report, don't sweat it too much. It's there because your credit was pulled by an issuer or lender when you applied for a credit card or loan. And if your credit score does get dinged from it, it's OK. It can bounce back in a few months if you use your card responsibly.

Is 17 hard inquiries bad? ›

There's no such thing as “too many” hard credit inquiries, but multiple applications for new credit accounts within a short time frame could point to a risky borrower. Rate shopping for a particular loan, however, may be treated as a single inquiry and have minimal impact on your creditworthiness.

Is a car loan a hard inquiry? ›

Hard credit inquiries occur when applying for items such as mortgages, auto loans, or new credit cards. Hard pulls typically result in just a small ding to your credit score, but multiple hard credit checks within a short time frame can potentially add up.

How do you get inquiries off your credit in 24 hours? ›

How can I get inquiries removed from my credit report in 24 hours? The only way to get hard inquiries removed from your credit report in a single day is to dispute them as errors.

How can I remove hard inquiries from my credit report in 24 hours? ›

To get an inquiry removed within 24 hours, you need to physically call the companies that placed the inquiries on the telephone and demand their removal. This is all done over the phone, swiftly and without ever creating a letter or buying a stamp.

How long does it take for hard inquiries to fall off? ›

Hard inquiries fall off of your credit reports after two years. But your credit scores may only be affected for a year, according to credit-scoring company FICO®. “Although FICO Scores only consider inquiries from the last 12 months, inquiries remain on your credit report for two years,” the company says.

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