Lauren Smith, WalletHub Staff Writer
@laurenellesmith
You can find out who pulled your credit by checking your credit report. Each time any lender, business or individual checks your credit, a hard or soft inquiry is listed on your report, noting who made the request, the date of the request, and the entity’s contact information.
Hard Inquiry vs. Soft Inquiry
A hard inquiry is the record of a lender’s request to review your credit report when you’ve applied for a credit card, loan, or other debt obligation. It will likely lower your credit score temporarily, usually by 10 points or less.
Soft inquiries include when you check your credit yourself and when companies make promotional offers or perform account maintenance. These kinds of inquiries have no impact on your credit score.
Unrecognizable Inquiries
If there is an unrecognizable inquiry listed on your credit report, it is possible a company could be doing business under a different name than the one you’re familiar with, or it could be a sign of attempted identity theft. You should contact the company immediately to verify if the inquiry is legitimate.
You can freeze your credit with each of the three major bureaus by contacting them directly if you determine the inquiry is fraudulent. When your credit is frozen, financial institutions cannot review your credit report. Consequently, no one, including you, can apply for a credit card, loan or any other new debt obligation. The credit bureaus will provide you with a PIN or passcode to temporarily or permanently remove the freeze in the future.
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