There are 2 types of inquires on your credit report, hard and soft. Soft inquiries don’t lower your credit score, hard inquiries will lower your credit score.
Hard inquiries can remain on your credit report for up to 2 years, but Fair Isaac only counts hard inquiries for 2 years.
Debt collectors are the main source of unauthorized hard inquiries. Credit bureaus allow this, as they set up the subscriber accounts to inflict maximum damage. Remember, the credit system was not designed to benefit the general public, its designed to keep a portion of the general public in sub prime status.
That’s quite a statement, but think about this, collection accounts can be passed around and assigned for decades. Why else are debt collectors allowed to place in your credit report?
Keep this in mind, supposedly, only people who you apply for credit with are allowed to submit a hard inquiry. Did you ever apply for credit with any bill collector? No! what is shocking is that the fair credit reporting act actually allows collection agencies to perform a hard inquiry on your credit report. A hard inquiry can lower your credit score as much as 35 points!
If an inquiry was submitted without a permissible purpose, you can ask for and collect up to $1,000($2,500 in California). Now, here is where you can have some fun. If you find an unfamiliar inquiry on your report, contact the creditor in writing and ask them for their permissible purpose. Write something like this “As per my Trans Union credit report, I am not aware of applying for credit with your company on (date). What was your permissible purpose?” when they write back, write them back again and ask for financial damages. If they don’t, let them know that you intend to file a complain with the state agency that gave them their license .
Donald Timms is Founder of CreditAide4u.com. As the Branch Manager and Senior Loan Officer of Equipoint Financial in Ojai California. in 2006, Donald personally funded over $200 million in residential loans. He specializes in helping Borrowers with challenged credit. His knowledge of the credit bureaus is a great help in helping his clients receive the best loans possible.
http://www.creditaide4u.com
Tags: credit, removing bad credit, repairing bad credit
