Here’s something worth knowing before you ever apply for an apartment or deal with a debt collector: a hard inquiry on your credit report only belongs there if YOU authorized it.
A hard inquiry — sometimes called a hard pull — is what happens when a lender or other party checks your credit as part of evaluating you for something. It can knock your score down a few points. Usually not a huge deal, but it can add up. And if someone ran one without your okay? That’s not okay — and federal law gives you the right to challenge it.
Unauthorized or erroneous hard inquiries can be disputed and removed from your credit report — but legitimate ones generally can’t. So the first thing to do is figure out which you’re dealing with. Look at the inquiry and ask yourself: did I actually apply for something with this company? Did I sign anything that let them check my credit? If the answer is no, you may have grounds to dispute it.
One thing to know: hard inquiries typically stay on your report for 2 years. If the inquiry is legitimate, it will age off on its own. But if it’s unauthorized, you don’t have to wait.
To dispute an unauthorized inquiry, you’d file a dispute with the credit reporting agencies — that’s Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You should also go directly to the company that pulled your credit. Send them a written letter saying you didn’t authorize the inquiry and asking them to have it removed. Mention the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) — that’s the federal law that protects your right to accurate credit information. Keep records of everything.
It’s a bit of a process. But it’s your credit report, and you have every right to make sure only accurate, authorized information is on it.