The idea of credit repair is an aspect of life that many people must pay attention to because of the impact on one’s life.
Remember that your credit score, credit profile, and other aspects of your credit can impact everything from your job to your insurance costs and your interest rate on loans.
It is no wonder why you are finding yourself thinking of so many credit repair questions. You are looking at credit repair questions because you want to make sure that you are putting yourself in the best position possible in your life.
As such, it is fantastic that you are getting started on this journey to a better credit situation.
But before proceeding to the context of credit repair companies removing hard inquiries and credit repair questions, we first need to understand what credit score is.
Here is what you must know about the basics of good credit.
What's Ahead...
What is a credit score?
A credit score is a score that portrays a person’s creditworthiness. It also depends on the history of the person.
The record includes the number of open accounts, various transactions, the repayment history, and a person’s credit involvement in multiple angles.
Remember that other factors determine your credit score as well.
The value of the credit score
A credit score can significantly affect your finances. In addition, there are various categories under which the people are divided based on their credit scores.
Every transaction you generally do or anything you buy is an ultimate influence on your credit score. For example, a credit score may determine the initial deposit you need to pay to buy a smartphone or purchase a home.
Why do credit inquiries occur?
There are two types of credit inquiries. The first type is known as the soft pull, while the second type is known as the hard pull.
The latter one is what you must pay attention to as it can significantly impact your credit report and overall score. The soft pull is not a big deal.
Usually, credit inquiries occur when a lender demands your detailed credit history for any reason.
However, credit inquiries can have a drastic effect on your credit scores. The end result of a hard inquiry is that can negatively impact your credit score and might stay for a long time.
For instance, a period of two to three years or more.
Most of the time, the credit inquiries happen for a cross-check. The reason for credit inquiries can be a check or a confirmation of your credit history. This can be related to your history or finances or can be unrelated to your finances.
What is a hard inquiry?
A hard inquiry is most likely to be present on your credit report when a lender checks your credit report as part of a process to see if you qualify for a things like a loan, or new credit card.
Whenever you are provided with a loan or a credit card, the credit card granting bank or a loan company makes sure that you qualify for their financial products.
For instance, if you are provided with a credit card of a certain amount, but the monthly installment of that credit card is above your reasonable monthly budget, the company or bank will not be ready or sure enough to provide you with their services.
For this reason, a hard inquiry is conducted to scan through your finances and check if you are eligible to be provided with a particular service or not.
In addition to this, hard inquiries remain on your credit report for up 2 years, sometimes longer.
However, suppose you are good at keeping up with your debts and clearing them timely. In that case, the credit score may rebound from an inquiry within a period of 4 to 6 months.
What effect does a hard inquiry have on your credit report?
As mentioned above, hard inquiries can affect your credit score negatively. It can have a diminishing impact on your credit score report as it accounts for almost 10 percent of your credit score.
The exact effect of the hard inquiry entirely depends on your finances or your transactions. In general, it accounts for at least one to five percent drop in your credit score.
You have to be very disciplined during this period as your credit score can significantly vary. One inquiry can make a drastic difference in your credit score, especially when these hard inquiries add up.
Can credit repair companies remove hard inquiries?
The question remains: can credit repair companies remove hard inquiries? It is a tricky answer. Yes, hard inquiries can indeed be withdrawn in some instances.
The hard inquiries can be removed through credit repair companies. However, still, there are many credit repair questions before the process can be initiated.
The credit repair questions you can face are things like:
- If the inquiry was conducted with your consent?
- Were you aware of the hard inquiry being undertaken?
- Did you approve the hard inquiry?
- Were you informed about the process and the potential hits?
- Did the number of inquiries exceed your expectations?
A credit repair company can proceed with your request to remove the hard inquiry based on these credit repair questions.
Before initiating the process, these credit repair questions answer sessions are usually cross-checked with you.
How can credit repair companies remove hard inquiries?
 Contacting or consulting a credit agency or a credit repair company is important to remove a hard inquiry. Hard inquiries are different than soft inquiries. Examples of soft inquiries could be because there is an item in collections and the company is checking to see what is going on with your financial outlook to make a decision to charge off the debt or not.
These types of entities can aid you in removing the challenging investigation and maintaining your credit report.
Credit inquiry removal letters are an authentic and safe way to eliminate a hard inquiry from your credit report. In addition to this, these letters can be sent to both the lenders and the credit reporting agencies.
There is a complete process to send the credit inquiry removal letter to the lender or the credit bureaus.
Use certified mail to send in the credit inquiry removal letter. The use of certified mail is emphasized here as proof that the credit issuer or the lender was sent the first official request to remove the hard inquiry.
Basically, certified mail is how every sending and receiving is maintained in the record.
Notify the lender
It is essential to notify the lender first to remove the hard inquiry. But if they do not address it, you can move to the next action of involving the courts. This first step is important and will also be a legal step in any future proceedings.
Your credit report
Be sure to include a copy of your credit report. The credit report will aid in referencing and proving that the inquiry took place without consent or approval. In addition to this, focus on highlighting that the complex search began without your authorization.
Choose an appropriate credit bureau
Send in your inquiry to one of the major credit bureaus. Ensure to follow the proper format for the inquiry removal letter to prevent it from looking informal or vague.
Can Credit Repair Companies Remove Hard Inquiries?
The answer is that credit repair companies can remove hard inquiries depending on the situation. They are used to dealing with and removing challenging items like these and charge-offs.
Before proceeding to remove hard inquiries, search for authentic credit repair companies and other legal ways through which your tricky inquiries can be removed.
Make sure every step you take is authentic and legal to prevent any future issues.
Take a look at some of the best credit repair companies that we have reviewed in the past.
Does Lexington Law Remove Hard Inquiries?
Paul Martinez is the founder of BendingDestiny.com. He is an expert in the areas of finance, real estate, and eCommerce.Â
Join him on BendingDestiny.com to learn how to improve your financial life and excel in these areas. Before starting this blog, Paul built from scratch and managed two multi-million dollar companies. One in the real estate sector and one in the eCommerce sector.