Dealing With an Unauthorized Credit Inquiry on Your Report - Conn Law, PC (2024)

Have you discovered an unauthorized credit inquiry on your report? It’s important to act promptly to protect your credit score and potentially prevent identity theft.

An unauthorized credit inquiry on your report can jeopardize your credit and increase the risk of identity theft. Consumers can address this issue by disputing any inaccuracies with credit bureaus, utilizing credit monitoring, and using fraud alerts to prevent future occurrences.

Key Points:

1. Monitor Regularly: Frequent review of your credit reports and detailed scrutiny of hard inquiries are essential to detect unauthorized activities early, which you can then dispute and potentially have removed.
2. Act Quickly: Immediate action is key when you spot a credit check without consent. Contacting the related company and credit bureaus and setting a fraud alert can help minimize the damage to your credit score and guard against identity theft.
3. Use Preventative Tools: Implementing credit freezes and fraud alerts, in addition to subscribing to credit monitoring or identity theft protection services, provides strong defenses against future unauthorized inquiries and their long-term consequences.

Identifying Unauthorized Credit Inquiries on Your Report

Locating unauthorized credit inquiries on your report isn’t always straightforward. However, vigilant monitoring and attention to detail can help you detect them before they negatively influence your credit score.

Think of your credit report as a personal financial diary that holds the story of your financial journey. Each loan, each credit card, and, yes, each inquiry on your credit is a chapter in that story. And just as you wouldn’t want an unauthorized person writing in your personal diary, you don’t want unauthorized inquiries tainting your credit history.

Get Your Free Credit Report to Review Inquiries

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to a free credit report annually from each of the three major nationwide credit bureaus. Access your report easily through annualcreditreport.com or similar sites.

Regularly checking your credit report is the key to detecting unauthorized inquiries and managing your credit health effectively. Free credit monitoring services like Credit Karma or Credit Sesame allow for more frequent monitoring, providing alerts on new activities and potential discrepancies in real-time.

Scrutinize the Hard Inquiries Section

After obtaining your own credit report, thoroughly examine the hard inquiries section. What exactly is a “hard inquiry?” It’s essentially a record that a financial institution has checked your credit report as part of its risk evaluation process during a credit application. A few hard inquiries are normal, but multiple hard inquiries within a short period could be a red flag.

When reviewing the inquiries section, you need to verify if the listed hard inquiries are recognizable and legitimate. Unrecognizable entries could indicate discrepancies such as credit being applied for by an unknown financial institution or, worse, potential identity theft. If an inquiry is identified as unauthorized, it can be disputed with the credit bureaus and, if unverified, must be removed from the report.

Taking Immediate Action Against Unauthorized Inquiries

Time is of the essence when dealing with unauthorized inquiries. The longer they linger on your credit report, the more potential they have to damage your credit score and attract suspicion from potential creditors. If you discover an unauthorized credit check take action immediately and follow these steps:

1. Contact the company that made the unauthorized inquiry.
2. Alert the credit bureaus and report the fraud.
3. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports, which adds an extra layer of scrutiny to any future credit applications made in your name.

Reach Out to the Creditor Directly

Upon discovering an unauthorized credit inquiry, contact the company that initiated the inquiry as soon as possible. Here are the steps to effectively handle this communication:

1. Gather Documentation: Have all relevant information at hand, including details of the inquiry on your credit as noted on your credit report and any prior agreements or communications you may have regarding the nature of the inquiry, such as assurances for a “soft pull” or explicit permissions you provided.
2. Formal Request: Write a formal request asking the creditor to provide proof that the hard credit inquiry was authorized. If possible, send this request via certified mail to ensure there is a record of your correspondence.
3. Follow-Up: If the creditor cannot provide proof of authorization, or if the inquiry was a result of a reporting error, request in writing that they remove the inquiry from your credit report. Specify a deadline for them to respond or take action.
4. Document Everything: Keep a record of all communications with the creditor. This documentation will be key if you need to escalate your complaint to a credit bureau or seek legal advice from a consumer attorney.

Remember, you have the right to an accurate credit report, and companies are legally obligated to correct any inaccuracies. If the creditor is unresponsive or refuses to remove the unauthorized inquiry, consider filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or seeking legal assistance.

Alert the Credit Reporting Agencies

After contacting the creditor, your subsequent move should be to notify the credit reporting agencies. They have the obligation to investigate any unauthorized inquiries you report. You may need to contact the credit bureaus directly via phone, as online forms might not be sufficient in some cases.

When you notify the credit bureaus, take the following steps:

1. Request Verification: Ask the bureaus to confirm the authorization of the inquiry with the creditor.
2. Demand Removal: If the creditor cannot prove the inquiry was authorized, direct the bureaus to remove it from your report immediately.
3. Provide Evidence: In cases where the inquiry is confirmed as fraudulent, submit any supporting evidence you have to the bureaus to expedite the removal process.

If the inquiry remains on your credit report after these attempts, consider seeking advice from an attorney.

Legal Recourse for Unauthorized Credit Pulls

If a company fails to remove an unauthorized credit inquiry despite your requests, or if a credit bureau does not properly address your dispute, you may have the right to sue for an unauthorized credit inquiry under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In these situations, seeking legal assistance is often necessary to enforce your rights and ensure compliance with the law.

Understanding Your Rights Under the FCRA

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) establishes legal standards to ensure the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of the information in consumer credit bureau files. Here are the key protections and rights it grants to help you manage unauthorized credit inquiries:

1. Right to Access Information: You have the right to request and obtain all the information a credit reporting agency holds about you. This includes the right to know if any piece of information in your file has been used against you in any financial application.
2. Right to Dispute Inaccuracies: If you identify unauthorized or incorrect information on your credit report, the FCRA gives you the right to dispute it. Upon receiving your dispute, the credit reporting agency is obligated to conduct an investigation, typically within 30 days. This investigation must review, verify, and correct the information as necessary.
3. Notice of Results: After the investigation, the credit bureau must provide you with written results and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. This ensures that you can verify that the incorrect or unauthorized information has been corrected or removed.
4. Right to Add a Statement: If the dispute is not resolved to your satisfaction, you have the right to add a statement of dispute to your credit file, explaining your perspective. This statement must be included anytime the disputed information is shown to a third party.
5. Limitations on Access: The FCRA restricts access to your credit report to those with a legitimate need, as defined by the Act. This typically includes creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use the information to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.
6. Right to Seek Damages: If a credit bureau, a user of consumer reports, or a provider of information to a bureau violates the FCRA, you may be able to sue in state or federal court for damages. Additionally, companies may face a penalty for running credit without permission.

These protections are designed to empower you to take action against unauthorized inquiries and ensure that your credit information is handled with the utmost care and legality.

When to Consider Consulting an Attorney

The FCRA provides strong protections, but there may be situations where additional support is required. If unauthorized inquiries continue to appear on your credit report despite your efforts to remove them, legal counsel may be the right next step. This is also true if a company insists an inquiry was authorized when it was not and refuses to remove it.

A consumer protection attorney can help you assert your rights under the FCRA and offer legal support in disputing unauthorized credit inquiries. They can guide you through the legal process, working to ensure that your rights are protected and you successfully get unauthorized inquiries removed from your credit report.

Prevention Measures to Safeguard Your Credit

While understanding how to handle unauthorized inquiries is important, it’s always more effective to prevent them from occurring in the first place. There are a few measures you can take to safeguard your credit from unauthorized inquiries, mainly credit freezes and fraud alerts. Both of these tools can serve as a protective barrier, shielding your credit from unauthorized access.

A credit freeze restricts access to your credit reports, preventing new creditors from viewing your credit history without your explicit consent. A fraud alert, on the other hand, prompts potential creditors to carry out additional identity verification steps before extending credit, minimizing the risk of identity theft.

Credit Freeze vs. Fraud Alert

While both credit freezes and fraud alerts offer protection against unauthorized inquiries, they operate in slightly different ways. A credit freeze essentially locks down your credit reports, preventing any new creditors from accessing your credit history. This means anyone trying to open a new account in your name, even with your personal information, would be unable to do so.

A fraud alert doesn’t lock down your credit reports but adds an extra layer of protection. When a fraud alert is in place, potential creditors are required to carry out additional identity verification steps before extending credit. This could mean:

• contacting you directly to verify that you’ve indeed initiated a credit application
• asking for additional identification documents
• requesting more information about your financial history

How to Initiate a Credit Freeze or Fraud Alert

So, what’s the process for implementing a credit freeze or fraud alert? You’ll need to contact each of the three major credit bureaus individually. When you request a credit freeze, the bureaus are required to place the freeze within one business day of an online or phone request, and within three business days if the request is made via mail.

To initiate a fraud alert, you can contact any one of the major credit bureaus, who will then relay the alert to the other two. This means you only need to make one phone call to have a fraud alert placed on all three of your credit reports.

The Long-Term Effects of Unauthorized Inquiries

As previously discussed, unauthorized inquiries can instantly impact your credit. But what about the long-term effects? Unfortunately, the damage can extend far beyond a temporary dip in your credit score. The lingering presence of unauthorized inquiries can lead to a host of issues in the future, affecting everything from:

• your ability to secure loans
• your chances of getting approved for rental applications
• your eligibility for credit cards
• your insurance rates
• your job prospects (some employers may check credit history as part of the hiring process)

The presence of unauthorized inquiries can also signal deeper issues, such as identity theft. This is why it’s important not just to address unauthorized inquiries when they occur, but also to take preventative measures to ensure they don’t happen in the first place.

Monitoring your credit report regularly and reporting any unauthorized inquiries to the credit bureaus are the key to protecting your financial future.

Impact on Credit Score

Each hard pull against your credit might lower your credit score by a few points. While a small drop may seem minimal, multiple inquiries in a short period can accumulate and significantly impact your credit score.

The effect of an unauthorized hard inquiry can be more substantial if you have a limited credit history or few credit accounts. In such cases, each inquiry represents a larger proportion of your credit activity and may raise red flags for potential creditors. Frequent hard inquiries can suggest financial instability, potentially leading creditors to view you as a higher credit risk.

Implications for Extending Credit

The presence of multiple hard inquiries on your credit report can raise eyebrows among potential creditors. They might see this as a sign of financial distress, which could affect your credit scores and ability to secure loans or other credit products in the future.

For instance, if you’re planning to apply for an auto loan, lenders might view multiple hard inquiries as a red flag. They could interpret this as an indication that you’re seeking more debt than you can handle, potentially leading to a denial of your loan application.

Tools and Resources for Monitoring Your Credit

Given the possible harm, unauthorized inquiries can inflict, it’s vital to maintain close watch over your credit. Fortunately, there are several tools and resources available to help you do just that. From credit monitoring services to identity theft protection programs, these tools can provide real-time alerts to changes in your credit report and help safeguard your personal information.

Selecting the appropriate tool can be subjective, depending on your unique needs and circ*mstances. Some people may prefer a simple credit monitoring service, while others might opt for a more comprehensive identity theft protection program.

Credit Monitoring Services

As mentioned, credit monitoring services can help you keep a close eye on your credit reports. These services track changes to your reports, such as new account openings and changes in credit card balances, and alert you to any potential issues.

Beyond credit monitoring, these services frequently include other features like identity theft surveillance. This includes monitoring your personal information across various databases, including the dark web, social media platforms, and official documents like court records.

Benefits of Identity Theft Protection Programs

Identity theft protection programs offer more comprehensive services compared to standard credit monitoring. In addition to monitoring your credit reports and personal information, these programs also provide support in resolving issues related to identity theft. This can include everything from providing advice on how to handle a data breach to covering expenses for legal fees and lost wages through identity theft insurance.

The comprehensive monitoring capabilities of these services alert users to potential fraud and unauthorized use of their information. If a personal information breach is detected, these services can recommend specific steps and tools to address the situation effectively.

Final Thoughts

Handling unauthorized credit inquiries hinges on swift detection and decisive responses. Consider equipping yourself with credit monitoring tools to quickly identify and address any discrepancies. Maintaining a secure credit profile is an ongoing process that enhances your financial stability in both the short term and the long run.