An item on a consumer's credit report that shows when a company requested to see that consumer's credit report. This will show as a "Permissible Purpose" when requested for credit, "Employment", when pulled for employment, or "Authorized" when pulled with a valid signature and identification. Inquiries are taken into account when calculating a person's risk score.

• Permissible Purpose: These inquiries count against about 3-5 points per inquiry. Rule of Thumb: No more than 12 inquiries per rolling calendar year and no more than 1 inquiry per month is considered acceptable when applying for credit for lenders' purposes.


• Account Review: These inquiries do not count against you. Current creditors review your consumer's credit report to make decisions on your current account with them. This is the reason (usually) why interest rates are raised and/or balance are lowered/increased.


• Promotional: These inquiries do not count against you. This is the reasoning behind all that "junk mail" for "Pre-Approved" credit applications.


• Consumer: These inquiries do not count against you. Consumers are allowed one free credit report per year or when denied for credit applications.