your credit score

What’s up with all those inquiries on your credit report? Where did they come from? Do you have to authorize them? Do they hurt your scores? Can they be removed? A nationally recognized credit repair expert answers these questions, and more.

Setting Your Priorities

Inquiries may hurt your credit score, or they may do nothing. If you are in a credit repair program there are probably bigger issues on your credit report than inquiries. Since it is best to focus on cleaning up the items that have the greatest impact, your inquiries may be left until everything else is resolved. Even then, you may decide to ignore the inquiries, but before we dismiss them altogether let’s explore a bit further.

Two Types of Inquiries

There are two types of inquiries. “Hard” inquiries will affect your credit score, and occur when you apply for new credit. “Soft” inquiries will not affect your credit score, and are typically triggered by three different events; 1) when you request your own credit report, 2) when potential lenders check your credit prior to offering you pre-approved credit, and 3) when a current lender conducts a periodic review of an existing account.