Vision Credit Education, Inc.

Definition

An inquiry is a request for a credit report through credit reporting agencies.

Analysis

Inquiries are probably the least understood aspects of a credit report. Most consumers do not understand them and incorrectly categorize all of them as harmful.

There are two main categories of inquiries:

• Hard inquiries: reduce your credit score
  • loan applications
  • credit applications
• Soft inquiries: no impact on credit score
  • promotional inquiries
  • account review inquiries
  • employer inquiries
  • insurance inquiries
  • landlord inquiries
  • self credit pulls

All inquiries are recorded on your credit report so that you can be aware of which entities are requesting your credit report. All inquiries remain on your credit report for up to 2 years, at which time they will automatically drop off.