Do You Know The Difference Between Soft and Hard Credit Inquiries?
Posted by Jame Bowen on Thursday, February 23, 2012
First of all I'll explain what inquiries are.
Long story short an inquiry means that someone looked inside your credit report. Your credit report is used by creditors and lenders to decide whether or not they will grant you credit. But not just that, they are used by insurance companies to decide whether or not they will cover you with an insurance policy. Obviously 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, again, is an inquiry.
At the same time having too many inquiries can be negative, because it could mean that you are attempting to get more credit than you can handle.
So How Do You Delete Inquiries On A Credit Report?
Watch out 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 simply writing a letter with documentation and an explanation.
You also need to know that 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 also "soft" inquiries.
"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 make sure that you can pay 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.
There is however one exception: if you have two inquiries from the same source you may be able to get them merged so that one is deleted.
Lastly you need to know that 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. This should get some problems off your shoulders.
This is pretty much everything you need to know about credit report inquiries, what they are and how to remove them from your credit report. Keep following free credit report for more information on credit reports and related topics.
Long story short an inquiry means that someone looked inside your credit report. Your credit report is used by creditors and lenders to decide whether or not they will grant you credit. But not just that, they are used by insurance companies to decide whether or not they will cover you with an insurance policy. Obviously 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, again, is an inquiry.
At the same time having too many inquiries can be negative, because it could mean that you are attempting to get more credit than you can handle.
So How Do You Delete Inquiries On A Credit Report?
Watch out 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 simply writing a letter with documentation and an explanation.
You also need to know that 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 also "soft" inquiries.
"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 make sure that you can pay 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.
There is however one exception: if you have two inquiries from the same source you may be able to get them merged so that one is deleted.
Lastly you need to know that 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. This should get some problems off your shoulders.
This is pretty much everything you need to know about credit report inquiries, what they are and how to remove them from your credit report. Keep following free credit report for more information on credit reports and related topics.