 TITLE: How to Remove Hard Inquiries From Your Credit Report CONTENT: Should You Remove Hard Inquiries?\n---------------------------------\nThe idea of removing hard inquiries from your credit report to improve your credit score may sound appealing. But disputing a genuine hard inquiry on your credit report will likely not result in any change to your scores.\nYou can, however, dispute ones that are a result of fraud. This can happen when an identity thief uses your Social Security number and other personally identifiable information to open a new account in your name.\nFor most people, that one extra hard inquiry may drop your credit score by just a few points temporarily, but new lenders likely aren't going to decline your application for credit just because you have hard inquiries on your credit report. While hard inquiries take two years to fall off your credit report, typically their impact to credit scores lasts just a few months.\nHowever, if you already have several hard inquiries on your credit report from the past couple of years or you have other, more serious, issues that are hurting your credit, one new inquiry could make it more difficult to get approved for a loan or credit card with favorable terms. END