Are credit inquiries negatively impacting your credit rating?

Each time you apply for a loan or credit card, the creditor accesses your credit report to determine your creditworthiness. This demand can impact your credit rating depending on whether it is a firm demand / direct demand or indirect demand / soft demand on your credit report.

If the creditor wants to determine the risk of offering you a loan or a new line of credit, they will do a thorough investigation. This is a serious investigation because lenders use the information to make decisions about whether or not to extend credit to you and on the terms they will offer. These types of inquiries are recorded on your credit report and, depending on the credit reporting agencies, could drop your credit rating by one to five points.

Examples of serious applications include mortgage applications, credit card applications, car loan applications, or student loan applications. Multiple inquiries over a certain period of time when buying a home or automobile are usually counted as one request, which can minimize the impact on your overall credit score. Typically, a serious investigation will stay on your credit report for a year, but it can take up to two years.

On the flip side, a soft investigation is when a company checks your credit report as part of a verification process such as employment to verify your identity. Examples of indirect investigations are background checks and credit card offers. These types of requests will not impact your credit score. When you request a credit limit increase, it may be a firm request or an indirect request depending on the lenders’ policies.

In short, a serious request has little impact on your overall credit rating, while an indirect request has no impact on your credit rating. It’s a good idea to monitor your credit

scoring so you can determine if and why credit checks are being done on your account.

Many banks offer free credit monitoring services, as well as companies like Credit Karma.

Once you’ve set up your credit monitoring, it’s a good idea to freeze your credit. This way, crooks and thieves won’t be able to establish new credit in your name, even if they get their hands on your personal information.

Mega Millions scam text

Several local readers have called to report that they received a text allegedly from the Arizona couple who won the $ 414 million Mega Millions jackpot.

The text reads, “Your phone number was selected through a computer randomized voting system that was submitted to us by the US Telco database to benefit from our comeback project during this pandemic. A donation of $ 1 million is made to empower you to strengthen your personal issues and generously reach out to the less privileged, orphans and charities in your area.

The message then allows you to contact their lawyer, Mr. Bentata, with your name and other information. The post is written in poor English, but in an attempt to add credence to this claim, the post included a link that a couple from Glendale, Ariz., Won $ 410 million (not $ 414 million). ) in June 2021 in the Mega Millions lottery. .

Unfortunately, like almost all of these types of messages, according to the Arizona Lottery, this text message is a scam. Do not click on any links as this is a way for crooks to steal your personal information. It is better to delete the SMS and not respond.

Veterinary pricing

A reader from Post Falls recently contacted me about a recent veterinary experience he had that he found strange; I agree but you make up your own mind.

The reader took his dog with a common canine problem and after a vet check-up, he was presented with a quote. But what was odd about the estimate was that there were three prices that were a good, a better, and a better approach to treating your pet.

Neither the reader nor I have heard of a veterinary practice that provides an estimate at multiple levels of care. Seems like a vet should just advise you on what is needed to cure your pet. Instead, the reader felt the bill was needlessly increased and attacked an owner’s desire to do everything for their beloved pet.

To add more concern to the approach was the fact that some of the tests suggested by this vet had to be sent to an offsite lab rather than done in-house; in other words, he was going to be billed for some tests that might have been needed but would have to wait days for the results. This begs the question: how important were these tests really?

I hope this approach to veterinary care will not extend to other practices or to the human world. Can you imagine your doctor giving you the same choices if you were lying there in pain and agony? If I were presented with this pricing approach, I would wonder if the best health of my pet was their priority.

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Remember: I am on your side.

If you’ve encountered a consumer issue that you have questions about or think our readers should be aware of, please email me at [email protected] or call me at (208) 274-4458. As a customer of The CDA Press Consumer Gal, I’m here to help. I’m a copywriter working with marketing strategy companies, columnist, veterans advocate and consumer advocate living in Coeur d’Alene.