TeleCheck on your credit report: what this inquiry means

Who TeleCheck is

TeleCheck Services, Inc. helps retailers, financial institutions and other businesses cut fraud and risk on check payments, and it provides payment data to lenders for credit underwriting. Fiserv owns it.

Is it a hard or soft inquiry?

A check verification at a store isn't a credit application and isn't a bureau hard inquiry. TeleCheck records it in its own file, which you can order and dispute.

Why it showed up on your report

You paid by check at a merchant that uses TeleCheck, set up a payment that runs through it, or applied with a lender that buys TeleCheck payment data.

How to check that you authorized it

1. Request your TeleCheck file report.
2. Match its entries to checks you wrote and the stores where you wrote them.
3. Dispute a returned-check record you already paid, with proof, through TeleCheck Consumer Resolution Services.

How to reach TeleCheck

Request your file report through TeleCheck's consumer assistance site, by phone or by mail. TeleCheck provides one free report every 12 months, and disputes cost nothing.

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.
• How to dispute a credit report error, step by stepA step-by-step guide to disputing credit report errors with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion: online vs. mail, what to include, and how to keep proof.
• 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.