What Is Hard Inquiry Removal and How Does It Work?

A credit inquiry is simply a request made by a company to a credit bureau with the aim of viewing your credit report. However, a hard credit inquiry is more serious, as it’s conducted when you apply for a new credit product, and it can signal to the creditor that you present a higher risk.

Additionally, it can stay on your report for 2 years, which means hard inquiry removal is a significant topic to discuss. More importantly, you need to understand when and how to act.

As a Cybernews expert, with the help of my research team, I have reviewed and investigated the best ways to remove inquiries from your credit report and thus protect your credit integrity.

Moreover, I’ll cover tools like Aura and Coveron, formerly known as NordProtect, which help safeguard identity and prevent unauthorized inquiries.

What is a hard inquiry?

A lender or creditor makes a hard inquiry whenever you apply for a personal loan, mortgage, car loan, or credit card. In essence, they check one or more of your credit reports to see if you meet their criteria.

It’s different from a soft inquiry, as these happen for benign things, like when you check your credit score or when a lender wants to see if they should send you a specific promotional offer.

If you have several hard credit checks, or hard pulls, as they are often called, that can be a signal that you’re a high-risk individual.

One hard credit inquiry can lower your FICO score by up to 5 points in most cases (rarely, 10), but it will likely recover within a few months. However, if you have several, the score can drop considerably.

Can you remove hard inquiries from your credit report?

In essence, no, you can’t, as long as they are legitimate and authorized, as it would signal that you’re attempting to hide your credit history, which is a big red flag.

However, if a hard credit check is unauthorized and the result of a mistake, or even fraud or theft, you can definitely dispute it and have it removed from your credit report.

There’s always a hard inquiry removal service that claims to do this for you, but you shouldn’t use one. Credit bureaus like Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion handle these disputes individually.

Bear in mind that if you’re rate shopping, that is, applying for the same type of loan in different locations to find the best interest rates, the several hard credit inquiries that come from this will be combined into one. In other words, your credit score won’t be affected much, so you don’t have to worry.

You should check your credit report regularly to see all the hard pulls that have accumulated. If you see one that shouldn’t be there, file a dispute with each credit bureau. You’ll also need to gather supporting documents that show the inquiry is unauthorized. This typically includes screenshots or mail.

4 steps to hard inquiry removal

We’ve covered all the basics, so now is the time to explain how to get hard inquiries off your credit report. The unauthorized ones, that is. Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Review your credit report. Verify whether you have an unauthorized hard credit inquiry by checking your credit report. You can get a free copy from the Annual Credit Report.
2. Identify unauthorized hard credit inquiries. Review the report and identify any inquiries that seem out of place. You can check the company that made them, and if you don’t know it, they are likely unauthorized. Naturally, the name may differ from the retail one, so it’s best to contact the company directly. The report will likely have the company’s email and phone number.
3. Contact the creditor directly. Call the company, as they might have made the inquiry by mistake. Ask them to verify the account details and the inquiry itself. If they can’t, or if they confirm that it was a mistake, ask them to notify each credit reporting agency so they can remove the hard pull from your credit report. If you believe the inquiry is a fraud, you should contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and report it. This results in an official document you can use to dispute the inquiry with the credit bureaus. If you suspect identity theft, inform the police and your bank.
4. Dispute with the credit bureaus. Notify each of the three credit bureaus by sending them a letter, along with a copy of the FTC report, and request that they remove the hard credit check. You can also use their official websites to dispute the inquiry.

Note that this process can take up to 30 days for thorough investigation and ultimate resolution.

How to protect your credit if you suspect fraud

Hard inquiries from unknown lenders can be a sign of identity theft. Someone might be applying for credit, making purchases, or opening accounts in your name.

To detect these in time and control the resulting damage, consider using identity protection services. After careful and thorough research, the Cybernews team has found that Aura and Coveron are some of the best solutions. Here’s what they do for you:

• Real-time credit monitoring. These services connect to credit bureaus and continuously monitor your credit files. This allows them to identify a problematic inquiry immediately. They even check the dark web to see if your personal information is somewhere it shouldn’t be.
• Fraud alerts. Once the service notices a potential fraudulent activity or finds something on the dark web, it sends an automatic fraud alert.
• Identity theft insurance. Services like these have policies that cover up to $1 million or even more. They're used to reimburse you for most of the costs you incur while trying to recover from identity theft. They compensate for the money stolen from banks, your legal fees, lost salaries, and various other expenses.
• 24/7 suspicious activity support. As soon as you get an alert of fraud, you can contact the identity protection service so they can connect you to a restoration specialist. They will help with handling the paperwork, reaching out to banks, and even disputing the fraudulent accounts with each of the three credit bureaus.

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Prevent unauthorized inquiries on your credit report

To take proactive steps, review our perspective on the best ways to maintain your privacy online and act accordingly.

If you truly fear unauthorized hard inquiries, you can set a credit freeze. This blocks all access to your credit report. Lenders can’t check it, and they can’t approve loans in your name, making it impossible for scammers to use your info. However, this blocks access to you, as well, so you need to either obtain a temporary lift or reconsider taking this step.

In case you want a simpler solution, you can set a fraud alert with the credit bureaus. This places a notice on your report, so lenders must take additional steps to verify your identity, like calling you before approving a credit.

Naturally, you should still consider using some of the top identity theft protection services like Aura and Coveron. They’re still useful for continuous monitoring, detecting suspicious inquiries early, and preventing new accounts from being opened in your name.

How to dispute hard inquiries

Here’s how the dispute process with a credit bureau works:

1. Contact the bureaus. Reach out to each of the bureaus through their official websites or certified email addresses. They have dispute centers you can use, including those of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
2. Gather and send documentation. This refers to your credit report and ID. In addition, you should provide evidence to support your claim, like screenshots or emails.
3. Follow the dispute process. You’ll typically be able to review the credit report to pinpoint the problematic parts.
4. File the dispute. It’s free, but it takes time to be reviewed (usually 30 days, but the whole process can last up to 45 days).
5. Don’t forget to follow up. Unless the dispute is resolved, follow up to confirm that your inquiry is removed.

The bottom line

As you can see, legitimate, authorized inquiries cannot be removed; however, unauthorized ones, including those made by mistake or due to theft or fraud, can. Therefore, you shouldn’t refrain from disputing these, as they can hurt your credit score, especially if there are multiple of them.

The hard inquiries that result from identity theft or fraud can be even more problematic, as they indicate that your personal information has been compromised. That’s why proactive monitoring is the most effective way to protect your credit health and your data.

To achieve this, you’ll need to use tools like Aura or Coveron. These services also provide alerts, allowing you to take immediate action and deal with troublesome inquiries promptly.

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