A credit inquiry occurs each time a lender checks your credit report to see whether or not you will qualify for a loan. This is done on all types of credit including credit cards, car loans, mortgages, personal loans, and more. In general, several credit inquiries made in a brief amount of time can hurt your credit score. More importantly, several credit inquiries that result in denials can result in a decrease in your credit score as well. Also, several credit inquiries on a person's credit report resulting in denials gives other creditors a reason to believe that you are not creditworthy.

There are some exceptions when it comes to auto loans and mortgage loans. At times several inquiries can be considered as only one credit inquiry if they are made within a certain amount of time. Over the years this amount has been changed by several laws.

Credit inquiries may last on your record for an extended period of time. It is important to know that a credit score report for yourself will not affect your credit scores. There are also ?soft? credit inquiries. ?Soft? inquiries will not decrease your credit score. Generally, ?hard? credit inquiries are the only ones that can affect you credit score. It is important to avoid these types of inquiries whenever possible.

In disputing errors on your credit report, it is important to be knowledgeable concerning credit scores and how they are calculated. It may help to simply ask the credit bureaus to remove errors from you report. You may be surprised at how often this works. Before you do this, be sure that you are completely sure that the error on your report is in fact an error and not a mistake that you may have made when glancing at your report.

Knowledge is the most important factor when dealing with your credit report and your credit score. Different credit inquiries can have various affects on your credit score. Knowing these differences will help you when viewing your report. You will more easily detect errors that may be on it and as well as other possible mistakes.

Bankruptcy can affect your credit score in many ways as well. There are many different chapter of bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Code. Depending on the chapter in which a person files a petition, the affects can vary. In many bankruptcy cases, the debtor will have the majority of his or her debts discharged by the end of the process. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy most commonly has this affect.

An unauthorized credit inquiry may occur. An unauthorized credit inquiry is when someone or some creditor tries to access your report without your consent. Be sure to handle these types of inquiries sufficiently. There is a great chance that you can have any blemish on your credit report that occurs due to the unauthorized inquiry removed. In some special circumstances, you may be able to take legal action against the person or company that made the unauthorized inquiry.