How to Remove Hard Inquiries From Credit Reports

1. Review your credit report for hard inquiries

Hard credit inquiries and soft credit inquiries both show up on your credit report, but have different effects on your score.

A soft inquiry can show up on your credit report when you check your own credit score or when you check your rates with a lender. On the other hand, a hard inquiry is usually part of a final application for loans and credit cards.

However, not every hard pull on your credit reports is legitimate. Illegitimate or unauthorized searches may be done in error or could be a sign that someone is trying to access credit using your personal information, which is identity theft. It’s crucial to check your credit report regularly to catch inaccurate or fraudulent hard inquiries.

Pro tip: Get free annual credit reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com.

2. Collect documentation

Now, if it’s clear that one or more hard credit pulls are either attempted fraud, in error or unauthorized, then you need to dispute these inquiries.

A dispute will go quicker and likely be more successful if you’ve got all of the evidence ready. In most cases, you’ll be able to submit the documentation online.

Here is a checklist of what you’re going to need to dispute an unauthorized hard credit search inquiry:

• Government-issued photo ID
• Recent utility bill, bank statement, or a lease as proof of address dated within the past 60 days
• Copy of your credit report with disputed inquiry highlighted or circled
• Written explanation of why the inquiry is unauthorized or inaccurate
• Completed dispute form (available on each bureau’s website)
• Any supporting documents, like a police report for identity theft
• Log of all correspondence and phone calls with the bureau or creditor

Once you’ve gathered your documentation, you can submit a dispute that will hopefully ensure any false hard searches are taken off your credit file.

Assuming you’re successful, this will remove any reduction in points that your credit file has suffered as a result of an unexpected and unauthorized hard search being added to it.

» COMPARE: Top credit monitoring sites

3. Submit a dispute with credit bureaus

Step-by-step: How to file a dispute with each credit bureau online

Let’s start with the dispute process. Here is how to submit a dispute one with the three credit bureau agencies:

Experian

1. Log in to or create your online Experian profile.
2. Navigate to Experian’s online dispute center and click “Start a new dispute.”
3. Review the information under the “Inquiry” tab and select the hard inquiries that you want to dispute.
4. Select the reason for the dispute in the drop-down menu and select “Next.”
5. Submit your documentation for the dispute.

Equifax

1. Log in to or create your online Equifax profile.
2. Navigate to the dispute center on the left side of the main menu.
3. Click “File a dispute.”
4. Head to the “Inquiries” tab to view your credit inquiries and select the hard inquiries you want to dispute.
5. When viewing the inquiry, select “File a dispute” to begin the process.
6. Submit your documentation for the dispute.

TransUnion

1. Log in to or create your online TransUnion profile.
2. On the main page, click “Dispute” to navigate to its dispute center.
3. Select “Start a new request.”
4. Review your account information and select “Dispute” next to the hard inquiries you want to correct and remove.
5. Submit your documentation and review your information before finishing.

Know your Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) rights

Every consumer has rights when disputing incorrect reports on their credit file. Your file can play a significant role in your life when applying for lending and credit products.

As a result, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protects consumer rights and is managed and monitored by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Under FCRA, you have the following rights:

• You have the right to dispute any item on your credit report at no cost.
• The bureau must investigate and correct or delete inaccurate information within 30 days.
• If the dispute is not resolved in your favor, you can add a 100-word statement of disagreement to your report.

4. Respond if your dispute is denied

If a dispute is denied or unresolved, there are still ways to resolve it.

The first step would be to contact the agency and ask it to investigate again. Ideally, send more evidence if you have it. If you’ve got more evidence, that should be enough to ensure the credit agency finds in your favor.

If that doesn’t work, you’re entitled under FCRA rules to add a 100-word statement to your own credit file to explain why one or more reports are fraudulent or an error. Make sure to mention that you tried to resolve this and whether there are any ongoing disputes or escalations.

At the same time, you are entitled to escalate to the CFPB complaint portal if the bureau does not resolve your dispute within 30 days.

After that, check your credit score over the next 100 days to see if any updates have been made. You should also hear back from the CFPB and the relevant credit agencies about your complaint.

5. Protect your credit from future hard inquiries and fraud

If you’ve gone through all of the trouble to have a fraudulent hard inquiry removed, the last thing you need is for that to happen again. The best way to protect yourself and your credit score is to set up alerts to prevent any unexpected hard inquiries.

There are a number of things you can do to protect your credit score, such as, but not limited to, the following:

• Place a free credit freeze with each bureau. This freeze remains until you lift it. It won’t negatively impact your credit score. However, don’t do this if you need to apply for credit in the near future.
• Set a one-year fraud alert with all three bureaus if you suspect identity theft.
• Enroll in free or low-cost credit monitoring for real-time alerts.
• Review your credit reports every four months.
• Use strong, unique passwords for all financial accounts.

Pro tip: Use the bureaus’ official links to set up free credit freezes:

• Experian security freeze
• Equifax freeze
• TransUnion freeze

Avoid credit repair scams for hard inquiry removal

Our final tip is to help you avoid credit repair scams. Unfortunately, this really happens. Any individual or company claiming they can remove hard credit searches — whether it’s a genuine hard search or a fraudulent one — is lying.

Red flags to watch out for include:

• Guaranteed removal offers
• Asking you to pay upfront fees
• Requests for sensitive information, like account passwords and authorization

It takes maybe 30 minutes to dispute hard credit inquiries on your reports. Be careful to avoid scams like this and put your credit and credit score at even more risk than they would be from one false hard search.