 TITLE: What Are Inquiries On Your Credit Report? - Experian CONTENT: How to Remove Hard Inquiries\n----------------------------\nYou should check your credit reports from all three credit bureaus regularly—at least once each year—which you can do for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also check your Experian credit report for free anytime. One thing to look for is any hard inquiry you don't recognize. Unexplained hard inquiries, while rare, can lower your credit scores—but more importantly, they can be signs of criminal activity.\nIf you see a hard inquiry you don't recognize, reach out to the creditor in question, using the contact information included in your credit report. Suspicious inquiries aren't always connected to illegitimate activity: An unfamiliar creditor may turn out to be the lending partner of a retailer where you applied for a credit card or a dealership where you applied for an auto loan, for instance.\nIf you confirm a hard inquiry is connected to fraudulent activity such as someone applying for credit with your information, take these steps:\n*   Report it to the appropriate law-enforcement agencies.\n*   Consider protecting your credit reports with a fraud alert or security freeze.\n*   Dispute the inquiry to have it removed from your credit report. END