How Do I Remove Inquiries From My Credit Account?
Hard inquiries are one of the criteria that make up your credit score. We’ll explain how much they impact your credit, the difference between hard and soft inquiries, if hard inquiries can be removed, and how to improve your credit score.
Credit score criteria
Your credit score is made up of five criteria, each one making up a percentage of your total score:
Payment history: 35%
Utilization: 30%
Length of credit history: 15%
Credit inquiries: 10%
Credit mix: 10%
As you can see, credit inquiries are far less important than payment history and utilization.
Hard vs. soft inquiry
There are two kinds of credit inquiries, hard and soft. A hard inquiry happens when you apply for credit like a credit card or loan, and the potential creditor requests a copy of your credit report from one or more of the three major credit bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Whichever bureau provided your report will note that on your credit report as a hard inquiry. A hard inquiry drops your credit score temporarily by a few points. The impact lasts about 12 months, and the inquiry drops off your report after two years.
A soft inquiry occurs when you check your credit score on a site like Credit Sesame or Credit Karma or “window shop” online for loans to see what interest rate and terms you qualify for. Soft pulls do not appear on your credit report or impact your credit score.
Removing inquiries from your credit report
Should you consider credit repair inquiry removal via a hard inquiry removal service? No! First of all, if an inquiry is legitimate, meaning you did apply for credit, and that’s the reason for the inquiry, it can’t be removed. And if you did find a fraudulent inquiry on your report, you can have it removed yourself for free by filing a dispute letter requesting the entry be removed. A service will charge to do so.
Improve your credit score
Rather than worrying about how to get inquiries removed, which can’t be done if the inquiry is legitimate and, if it were possible, wouldn’t boost your score by much anyway, focus on better ways to improve your score:
Payment history is the most significant factor in your credit score. Never make a late payment! You can use Experian Boost to add additional on-time payments to your credit score. The free service reports payments not typically reported to the credit bureaus.
Utilization is the second most significant factor in your credit score. For credit score purposes, utilization should be under 30% but the lower, the better. A personal loan can help you reduce utilization and save money.
Upwardli can help you build or improve your credit. We can also help you find financial service providers who understand not everyone has a substantial credit history, perfect credit, or a Social Security number.
