Early Warning Services on your credit report: what this inquiry means

Who Early Warning Services is

Early Warning Services, LLC is a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency built on checking and savings account history that participating financial institutions report. Banks consult it when you apply for an account, merchants use it when deciding whether to take a check, and lenders can use its deposit data when deciding whether to offer you credit. It also produces an Early Warning Deposit Score, which it says is not a credit score.

Is it a hard or soft inquiry?

An Early Warning lookup sits in Early Warning's file, not in the hard inquiry list on your Equifax, Experian or TransUnion report, so it doesn't count in FICO or VantageScore credit scores.

Why it showed up on your report

You opened a bank account, wrote a check at a store that verifies checks, or applied with a lender that reviews deposit history. If you were turned down, Early Warning notes that the bank or merchant made the decision, not Early Warning.

How to check that you authorized it

1. Request your free Early Warning file disclosure.
2. Match the banks and merchants on it to accounts you opened and checks you wrote.
3. Dispute anything wrong through Early Warning's dispute page; it says disputes are free.

How to reach Early Warning Services

Request your file disclosure through Early Warning's consumer information page, by phone at 800-745-1560 (9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern for the Deposit Score), or by mail. The disclosure is free once every 12 months. The pages reviewed don't describe a security freeze.

Guides that go deeper

• Specialty consumer reports: ChexSystems, tenant screening and moreBanks, landlords, insurers, and utilities often check reports you've never seen. Who keeps them, how to get yours free, and how to fix errors in them.
• Freezing all the bureaus, including the ones nobody mentionsEquifax, Experian, and TransUnion are three of the freezes you need. The other four, with each company's own freeze link, phone and mail address.
• How to read and use an adverse action noticeA denial letter must name the bureau, shows the score used if there was one, and opens a 60-day window for a free report. How to read and use each part.
• 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.