How Long Do Credit Inquiries Stay On A Credit Report?
Stuffed safely into your mailbox, between the electricity bill, a few collection notices and some postcards from your Aunt in Miami, there's a letter notifying you that you've been pre-approved for a car, boat, truck, or pony loan, and all you have to do is return the enclosed application and in a matter of weeks you'll have a new line of credit placed right in your hot little hand. Betcha didn't know that even if you were pre-approved, once you return the final approval form your credit report will still be pulled-not a good thing.
What's A Credit Inquiry
Every time you apply for a credit card offer sent in the mail, a new Macy's charge, and especially big ticket items, like cars and houses, you credit report is pulled by that institution, that's called a credit inquiry. Sounds innocent enough, right? Negative, the problem with credit inquiries is that they can stick around for a while, and if you've applied for twelve loans in the past months creditors will see that as one giant red flag.
Potential credit grantors won't pause at accusing your "thirst" for additional credit, demonstrated in multiply inquiries, as a declaration of financial ruin-creditors can be major drama queens, you know. So, just how long do credit inquiries stay on a credit report? The three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, keep a detailed list of inquiries, that are visible to potential creditors, for two years-but only if you let it.
Getting Rid of Credit Inquiries
When someone asks you, "How long do credit inquiries stay on a credit report?" Be sure to tell them that while the fat cats won't dump the potential damning inquiries for two years, with a little leg work(that's code for money), and a lot of elbow grease (that's code for, be prepared to make a lot of calls), you can get rid of inquiries yourself.
Step One - Request copies of your credit report from all three of majors. Each report will include a inquiry section. Now the inquiry section will include two types of credit inquiries, those that are promotional, you were selected as a part of a cattle call and mass mailed pre-approval applications, and those that aren't promotional.
As pesky as those mass mailings can be, it's the latter that you should be most concerned with. The Mercedes dealer you pestered incessantly the same week that you applied for store charges at Arben B, Bebe and Nordstrom's, these can be problems. If you haven't applied to some places not listed as promotional inquiries, they've gotta go too. The first step is finding out what's in your inquiry section.
Step Two - Locate the addresses of the inquiring creditors, this'll be important for Step Three. Experian is the only one of the three credit bureaus that list addresses of inquirers. If something is on one of the other credit reports that doesn't appear on the Experian report (reports won't always have the same information), then call Equifax-it's almost a Herculean task to get someone on the phone at Trans Union.
Step Three - Once you've figured out which inquirers are causing you problems, simply inform them in writing that you would like for them to remove the inquiry from your credit report. This will likely cause an uphill battle, but a few connotations to the effect of "I sue," and challenging that you did not understand that you were authorizing an inquiry to be placed in your report (which is true), you can ultimately win the war.
So the next time someone asks you, How long do credit inquiries stay on a credit report, answer with, "Until they get tired of fighting."
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