On your credit report, at the end of the report, you will notice a section called “Credit Inquiries.” These inquiries are made by companies that have checked your credit report, usually to judge your creditworthiness for a loan or credit card.

There are two types of inquiries, Hard and Soft. Hard inquiries affect your credit scores, while soft inquiries do not affect your credit scores. Hard inquiries occur when you apply for a mortgage, car loan, school loans, credit cards, new insurance policy, job applications, and cell phones.

Soft inquiries, on the other hand, occur when a creditor checks your credit without your permission. A soft inquiry might even be pulled by an existing creditor just checking on your current credit situation. Another example of a soft inquiry is a company that would like to send you a credit card, or other loan offer. Checking your own credit, whether you are checking your credit report, or your credit score, is also considered a soft inquiry and does not hurt your credit score.

Many negative items stay on your credit report for anywhere between seven and ten years. Inquiries only stay on your credit report for 2 years. Each time an inquiry is made, it is recorded by each of the three credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, along with the date it was requested. Once recorded, the two-year countdown to removal begins. And each time an inquiry is logged, it will affect your credit score. In some cases, a hard inquiry can effect your score by 5pts each inquiry.

It’s important not to apply for too many types of loans at one time. However, if you are shopping around for one type of loan, like a mortgage, and decide to apply for several different loans to compare terms and rates, the multiple inquiries count as just one towards your credit score. The same goes for credit cards and auto loans. These multiple inquiries do not affect the credit score as long as they occur within a 30-45 day period.

In order to remove inquiries, you can dispute each item with the credit bureaus, or directly with the company that pulled your credit. So, if you have 40 inquiries on your credit report, you will have to contact and dispute with each company, which is very time consuming.

ABOUT MAS CREDIT REPAIR

Marc A. Stephens (MAS) provides personalized consulting services to individuals and businesses. MAS has prepared the most effective credit repair process with over 15 years of proven results. Pursuant to United States Code Title 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(c)(2)(E) for credit repair, MAS can rapidly remove any item from your credit report, even if the debt is yours. MAS takes tremendous pride in ensuring that clients have a realistic plan of action to successfully repair their credit.

MAS will quickly delete the following items from your credit report:

Auto Loans, Bank Loans, Bankruptcy, Charge-Offs, Child Support, Collections, Credit Cards, Foreclosures, Home Loans, Inquiries, Judgments, Late Payments, Liens, Repossessions, School Loans, Utility Bills