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How to Remove Data Facts from Your Credit Report

By:
Money Staff
8 min read

Wondering why Data Facts is on your credit report? If you’ve recently noticed this name crop up on your report, it’s most likely there as a soft or hard inquiry, which an application for a new job, rental home or loan may have prompted.

While your score may have dropped a few points, you probably don’t need to be concerned about the inquiry. However, if a hard inquiry is on your report by mistake, you should get it deleted.

Data Facts on my credit report

Data Facts is a credit reporting company primarily used by employers to vet applicants. Employers use Data Facts to run background checks on prospective employees, accessing documents such as consumer credit reports to assess their financial responsibility.

When you apply for a new job, the company’s HR team may use a company such as Data Facts to access your Equifax, Experian or TransUnion credit reports. The same is true for landlords and lenders, who also use credit reporting companies to conduct background checks and access credit reports.

How does a Data Facts hard credit check impact your report?

An employer, landlord or lender can pull your credit in one of two ways: a hard or soft inquiry. If you pre-qualify for a loan or access your credit score online, your credit is only hit with a soft pull. This doesn’t impact your credit or go on your report. Background checks for tenants or job applicants typically only require a soft inquiry as well.

Hard credit inquiries

Hard inquiries function a little differently. They provide lenders with all the data in your credit report and come into play when you apply for a:

Unlike soft inquiries, hard inquiries do go on your credit report and can lower your score by a few points. Fortunately, they don’t stay there for long, falling off your report completely in two years, with their effects diminishing along the way.

When a company runs a hard inquiry, they may only look at one of your reports, thereby impacting only one score. Others may access two or all three of them, meaning each report could receive an inquiry.

Most people have hard inquiries on their credit reports; they’re central to getting approved for loans, credit cards and mortgages. This means having a few on your report isn’t the end of the world.

While a few points from a hard inquiry may not hurt your score much, several hard inquiries on your report at any given time may lower your score significantly, if temporarily, while sending a negative message to lenders. It can suggest that you aren’t in a very stable financial situation and have to apply for loans and credit to stay afloat.

Therefore, it’s wise to keep inquiries at bay by only applying for offers you’re likely to qualify for based on your score and any other requirements. And, if you’re applying for a mortgage, you’ll have 14 days to submit applications to multiple lenders without hitting your report repeatedly with inquiries.

How to get Data Facts removed from your credit report

The good news is that a credit inquiry on your report after you applied for funding, a job or a new home is no reason to stress. However, an unknown inquiry could mean someone has tried to use your identity fraudulently or signal a reporting error. If you don’t think Data Facts should lawfully be on your report, below are a few pointers to get the hard inquiry deleted from your credit report.

Dispute the hard inquiry

If a hard inquiry has appeared on your report, but you haven’t submitted any applications, you should dispute the entry. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires companies such as Data Facts, to conduct fair and accurate reporting. If something is amiss with your report, you are well within your rights to have it removed.

You may want to initiate this process by contacting Data Facts to get all the details on the inquiry. It should be able to explain how the entry made its way onto your report. You can then take this information to the credit bureaus displaying the entry.

When you file a dispute, whether online, by mail or via phone, the bureaus have 30 days to investigate. If there’s no proof the inquiry should be there, the bureaus will delete the entry.

Data Facts contact information:

Data Facts, Inc.
Attn: Privacy Officer
8000 Centerview Parkway
Suite 400
Cordova, TN 38018

Phone: 1-800-264-4110

Monitor your credit

As hard credit checks lower your score, and identity fraud could be to blame for a mysterious inquiry, it’s important to stay on top of changes in your credit report. A credit monitoring service can keep you in the know, sending you regular score updates and alerts when there’s a change to your report. They’ll also provide tailored recommendations and offers to help you improve your score and secure funding.

Consult a credit repair company

Need help getting Data Facts removed from your report? Dealing with identity theft and inaccurate reporting can be exhausting. A credit repair company can take the stress out of improving your credit by taking the necessary steps to remove erroneous entries from your credit report.

However, they do more than just dispute hard inquiries, also helping with credit issues such as:

The best credit repair companies can quickly determine what’s hurting your score most and guide you on what you can do to improve it.

Bottom line

To recap, applying for a credit card, loan or line of credit minimally impacts your credit score, and, fortunately, the effects of a hard inquiry are short-lived. If you applied for a job, rental or mortgage from a company that partners with Data Facts, an inquiry on your report is not a cause for concern. However, if this isn’t the case, the Fair Credit Reporting Act provides the resources you need to get the inquiry removed. Any time you suspect identity fraud, you can place a freeze on your credit report and a fraud alert.

Update: This article has been updated to provide current contact information for Data Facts.

Disclaimer: This story was originally published on January 13, 2021, on BetterCreditBlog.org. To find the most relevant information concerning collections or credit card inquiries, please visit: https://money.com/how-to-remove-collections-from-credit-report/ or https://money.com/get-items-removed-from-credit-report/

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