Disputing Unauthorized Hard Inquiries on Your Credit Report

Hard inquiry versus soft inquiry

A hard inquiry happens when a lender checks your credit because you applied for something — a card, a loan, a mortgage — and it requires your authorization. A soft inquiry (you checking your own report, or a pre-approval check) doesn't require authorization and doesn't affect your score at all. Only hard inquiries are ever genuinely disputable, and only when they weren't actually authorized.

What makes a hard inquiry disputable

A hard inquiry is legitimately disputable when you never applied for the credit it's attached to — which is often a sign someone applied for credit using your identity, not just an ordinary clerical error. It is not disputable simply because you'd rather it wasn't there after a purchase you do remember making, or because several accumulated while you were rate-shopping (most scoring models already treat a cluster of inquiries for the same type of loan within a short window as a single search, precisely so comparison shopping doesn't get penalized repeatedly).

How much a hard inquiry actually affects your score

A single hard inquiry typically has a small, temporary effect on most scoring models and stays on your report for about two years, though its effect on your score usually fades well before that. It is rarely, on its own, the reason for a denial — it's one minor factor among many.

When it might be identity theft

An inquiry — or a full account — you genuinely don't recognize at all is a stronger signal than an ordinary reporting error. See our identity theft and credit reports guidefor what to do first in that case, including reporting it at the FTC's IdentityTheft.gov.

How we help

We review your inquiry list against what you actually applied for, and if something looks unauthorized, help you put together a specific dispute — see our full dispute-process guide.