Certified Credit Reporting on your credit report: what this inquiry means

Who Certified Credit Reporting is

Certified Credit Reporting, Inc. resells consumer reports under the FCRA, mainly for mortgage, tenant and employment purposes. It doesn't keep a database of consumer information. Because it serves landlords and employers as well as lenders, its name on your report can trace back to an apartment application or a job screening, not only a home loan.

Is it a hard or soft inquiry?

A mortgage or other credit application produces a hard inquiry. An employment screening is not a credit application, and myFICO lists background checks among soft inquiries. A tenant screening can be coded either way, depending on how the landlord's order is set up.

Why it showed up on your report

A lender, landlord or employer that uses Certified Credit ordered your report. Its own borrower education article notes that the company name on your report is often the credit reporting agency, not your lender.

Why it can show more than once

Certified Credit says you may see the inquiry on one, two or all three of your reports, depending on which bureaus the order used. Several entries close together during a mortgage search are usually counted as one inquiry by scoring models.

How to check that you authorized it

1. Ask yourself which of the three happened near that date: a loan application, a rental application or a job offer.
2. Contact Certified Credit Consumer Assistance, which says it can tell you which client accessed your report.
3. Ask that client for the authorization you signed if you don't remember one.

How to reach Certified Credit Reporting

Call 800-769-7615, extension 2006, or email [email protected]. Consumer Assistance provides a free copy of a report a client requested and handles disputes about information on Certified Credit's copy.

Guides that go deeper

• How mortgage preapproval shows up on your creditA mortgage preapproval usually means a hard pull from all three bureaus. Why one lender shows up three times, how shopping is scored, and what to avoid.
• What each apartment application costs your creditLandlord credit checks can be hard or soft, and FICO doesn't group rental inquiries the way it groups loan shopping. Ask these questions before you pay.
• Your rights when an employer checks your creditAn employer needs your written OK to pull your credit and must show you the report before acting on it. The federal steps, plus state and city limits.
• Hard vs. soft inquiries: which credit checks count against youA hard inquiry comes from a credit application and can trim your score. A soft one never does. A table of the common checks, gray zones included.