SageStream on your credit report: what this inquiry means

Who SageStream is

SageStream, LLC collects information from, and sells supplementary consumer reports to, auto lenders, credit card issuers, retailers, utilities and mobile phone providers. It's listed by the CFPB as a supplementary reporting company, meaning a lender checks it in addition to, not instead of, the three bureaus. LexisNexis Risk Solutions owns it, and SageStream's web address now forwards to the LexisNexis consumer portal.

Is it a hard or soft inquiry?

Hard and soft are labels the three bureaus apply to their own inquiries. A check that a card issuer or phone company runs against SageStream's file is logged in SageStream's records, and FICO and VantageScore credit scores, which are built on Equifax, Experian or TransUnion data, don't count it. The same company may also pull a bureau report, and that pull gets its own label.

Why it showed up on your report

You applied for a credit card, an auto loan, a store account or a phone plan, and the company added a SageStream check to its review. People also come across the name when they order their SageStream file and read its inquiry list.

How to check that you authorized it

1. Request your free SageStream report and read the list of companies that checked it.
2. Match each company to an application, a new phone line or a store card you opened.
3. If a name means nothing to you, check all three bureau reports for a new account opened the same week.

How to reach SageStream

SageStream provides one free report every 12 months on request, by website, phone or mail. The CFPB notes that companies required to provide free annual reports must do so within 15 days. SageStream also places a freeze on its file if you ask.

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.
• Removing hard inquiries you didn't authorize, the legitimate wayAn inquiry you never authorized can be disputed, and one from fraud can be blocked. One you did authorize can't. How to sort them and fix each kind.
• 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.