Mar
22
lokum13 asked:
Recently, someone was trying to open up credit card accounts and fast cash advances with both my husband’s and my name. It’s definately a case of identity theft! Luckily this person wasn’t able to get any credit - mine is not very good and my husband is a new greencard holder.
Is there anyway to dispute these inquiries on our credit reports? I’m sure they’re lowering our credit score!
ARMANDO
Recently, someone was trying to open up credit card accounts and fast cash advances with both my husband’s and my name. It’s definately a case of identity theft! Luckily this person wasn’t able to get any credit - mine is not very good and my husband is a new greencard holder.
Is there anyway to dispute these inquiries on our credit reports? I’m sure they’re lowering our credit score!
ARMANDO
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7 Responses to “Can I dispute hard inquiries on credit reports?”
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From my understanding, you can contact those companies making the inquiries and ask to have them remove them. They of course do not have to, but they can. Also, you can add a note to your own credit report regarding those inquiries. Creditors will read your notes that you have added.
it will only matter if you are going to make a credit purchase in the next 90 days. Put a fraud alert on your credit file today as someone may get credit in your name
Yes you can dispute them, but it has to be with the creditor, not the bureaus. The bureaus will reject your request to dispute entries, and direct you to contact the reporting creditor.
I have a nice pre-made document that I have used in the past with great success to dispute inquiries with the creditor. I have gotten quite a few inquiries off my report(s) using it.
Some quick tips….inquiries stay on your report(s) for up to 2 years from the date they were initiated. Only inquiries that are 12 months of age or newer are really factored into your score. However, inquiries over 12 months of age and up to the 2 year mark that show on your report, are still counted in the total # of inquiries shown, when a creditor views your report.
You have a good chance of getting (valid) inquiries removed from creditors that you personally know did not extend you credit (e.g. online credit card apps, auto loans, etc….things that you/someone else applied for that bears no signature) after a 4-6 month period of time from the denial because creditors would much rather remove the inquiry, than waste the manpower digging up an application (especially one that bears no signature and would not be likely to hold up in court) that they know they denied in-house.
Take it for what it’s worth….
Now if you have inquiries on there that you know had to bear a signature for the application (e.g. auto loans @ a dealership) that do not belong to you, you can still dispute these, and if they send you the document containing a fraudulent signature, you can dispute that with them….and have them remove it as well.
Most creditors would rather not deal with the hairy mess of an inquiry dispute by wasting a lot of time validating it, and will remove it. This is common with most large companies….mom & pop places that report you may have a harder time pursuing, but if you have a valid claim, you can legally go after them.
Mail me….I have a letter I can send you for it, which explains some legal stances, statutes and fines…that you can present to the creditor if the situation is not resolved. I have had very good results challenging inquiries with this method.
Yes, you can dispute the reports, contact the bureaus and finance companies that preformed the inqueries.
Firstly get a letter from your credit card company that these were fraudulent inquiries then pass them on to the credit bureaus and file the dispute. Also it would be wise to put fraud alerts on your credit files.
You can use credit repair agency, for example this one -
They will clean lots of bad stuff from your credit report - and do it much faster than yourself.
As far as I know, as long as you have proof of the attempted ID theft you can dispute those inquiries, either through the credit bureaus or the lender itself. I am so glad they were not able to get credit in your name!!!
And yes, they are DEFINITELY lowering your credit score, at least temporarily. Generally it is 3 points deducted per inquiry and those points stay off your score for 30 to 60 days. the inquiry itself however will show on your credit report for up to 2 years. You may be able to do a lot of it through annualcreditreport.com Good Luck.
Hope this helps.