What are unauthorized inquiries?
If you see an inquiry on your credit report that you do not recognize, the first thing to do is identify the type of inquiry. An inquiry from an unrecognized business could be an indicator of credit fraud, but generally is not.
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There are two types of inquiries on your report: "hard inquiries" and "soft inquiries."
-Soft inquiries are usually initiated by others, like companies making promotional offers of credit or your lender conducting periodic reviews of your existing credit accounts. Soft inquiries also occur when you check your own credit report or when you use credit monitoring services from companies. These inquiries do not impact your credit score.
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-Hard inquiries are the result of your application for credit or other services. If you haven't applied for credit or services, a hard inquiry from an unknown company could indicate someone is using your identity to apply for credit.
Company Listed May Do Business Under a Different Name
An inquiry may also appear on your report under an abbreviated name or the name of a parent company that you do not recognize. This is most common with retail credit when an inquiry is done by the bank that manages the account. In this case, you may not see the full name of the retail store.
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If you are unable to identify why your report was accessed, you should contact the company listed directly for more information.