Teletrack on your credit report: what this inquiry means

Who Teletrack is

Teletrack collects consumer information and supplies it to payday lenders, rent-to-own stores, auto finance companies, subprime lenders, banks, credit unions and debt collectors. Equifax owns it.

Is it a hard or soft inquiry?

A Teletrack check is logged in Teletrack's file and isn't one of the bureau hard inquiries that FICO or VantageScore count. A business that also orders an Equifax report creates a separate bureau inquiry with its own label.

Why it showed up on your report

You applied for a payday loan, a rent-to-own agreement, subprime auto financing, or credit at a bank or credit union that screens through Teletrack. Debt collectors also use Teletrack data.

How to check that you authorized it

1. Request your Teletrack report and read which businesses checked it.
2. Compare the dates with store visits, online applications and car shopping.
3. Report any check you can't explain to Teletrack and ask the business for proof of your application.

How to reach Teletrack

Request one free Teletrack report every 12 months through its consumer site, by phone or by mail. Teletrack also freezes your file on request.

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.