How to Delete Lost Card Equifax Inquires

Protecting your credit is one of the best things that you can do to improve your financial situation. A variety of factors can impact your credit report, including having inquiries from too many creditors. If youve lost a credit card, any inquiries related to that card will automatically fall off the report after two years, as long as there are no delinquencies associated with the card. Your credit report will continue to list cards with delinquencies for up to seven years. If you want to take control of your credit score and remove inquiries related to a lost card, there are simple steps that you can take.

Instructions

1

Request a copy of your credit report from Equifax by going to their website. You'll have to pay a charge to get a copy of your report from them. By law, youre entitled to one free credit report a year, which will contain your scores from Equifax, along with the other major credit-reporting agencies, TransUnion and Experian.

2

Look at the bottom of your credit report to identify inquiries. Youll be able to see which inquiries were "hard pulls" made by credit grantors and which were "soft pulls" made by your current creditors. Hard pulls may be damaging to your credit if they appear to show a pattern of credit problems.

3

Gather any documentation that shows that your lost card was in good standing and not delinquent. Credit statements and correspondence with creditors about the card should be sufficient. This will make you better prepared in case there are any discrepancies on your report when you contact Equifax.

4

Write a letter to Equifax requesting that inaccurate or unauthorized inquiries be removed. Send the letters through certified mail to get an official receipt. The Fair Credit Reporting Act prohibits unauthorized credit inquiries. Equifax will investigate the contested inquiries and make corrections to your report if it contains inaccurate or outdated information.

5

Check your Equifax report to verify that the inquiries were removed. Removing an inquiry from Equifax will remove it from TransUnion and Experian as well.