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Information and advice on how to stop credit inquiries - The Bills.com Blog
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Information and advice on how to stop credit inquiries
Question: How to stop inquiries on my credit report. I recently signed up for stopping all the inquiries, but I can't find the website, or how I did it! Can you help?
Answer: Thank you for visiting Bills.com blog. I am assuming that you may have been a victim of identity theft and that is the reason you want to stop the inquiries on your credit report. Identitytheft is becoming a growing problem. Twelve states have passed laws allowing consumers to place a security freeze on their credit reports, effectively preventing any credit grantor from obtaining a copy of a consumer?s credit report, thus stopping any credit inquiries from appearing on the consumer?s credit report. The primary purpose behind these laws is to allow victims of identity theft to prevent further credit from being obtained using their credit information; however, a security freeze will also allow you to prevent further credit inquiries from appearing on your credit report. The downside of placing a security freeze on your credit report is that no one will be able to obtain a copy of your credit report or credit score, even lenders who you may want to pull your credit report for the purpose of extending you credit. While a security freeze is placed on your credit report, you will likely not be able to obtain a mortgage, auto financing, new credit cards, or any other type of credit. If you need to obtain new credit, you can always have the freeze lifted, though the process will take a few days, so you should expect a delay anytime you need to obtain new credit. To learn more about the process of placing a security freeze on your credit
report, and to find out if your state offers this option to its residents, please visit http://www.credit-report-freeze.com/.
Because of the possible inconvenience caused by placing a security freeze on your credit report, you may want to think twice before doing so. I would like to explain credit inquiries to you to help you determine if placing a security freeze on your report is really necessary. Whenever a company pulls a copy of your credit report, the credit bureaus will list an inquiry on your credit report. Credit inquires fall into two general categories: ?hard? inquiries and ?soft? inquiries. Hard inquiries, which can negatively impact your credit score, appear when a potential lender checks your credit as a result of your applying for new credit. Soft inquiries appear when a company pulls your credit without your prior authorization, or when you pull your own report. For example, an unsolicited ?pre-approval? letter from a credit card company will result in a soft inquiry. Soft inquiries are not disclosed to your potential lenders when they pull your credit report, and they do not affect your credit score. The primary purpose of soft inquiries is to allow you to see
who has been reviewing your credit report.
If you find inquiries on your credit report which you feel should not be there, how you should proceed depends on what type of inquiries are appearing. If they are soft inquiries, then there is little concern, as these inquiries do not affect your credit score. However, if they are hard inquiries, you may want to review the listings more carefully. As stated above, hard inquiries result from your applying for new credit, not from established creditors pulling your report for review or from unsolicited credit offers. If you find inquiries you think are being improperly reported, you should notify the credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, of the problem. If the inquiries have been reported inaccurately, you should have little difficulty in having the problem corrected. The Federal Trade Commission offers an online guide to disputing inaccurate credit listings, available at www.ftc.gov .
I wish you the best of luck in resolving these inquiries on your credit reports. I hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.
Best,
Bill
www.bills.com
Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!
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