An inquiry code AR designates a period account review conducted by an existing creditor. FCRA 604 provides explicit permissible purpose for existing creditors to pull your credit report at their discretion in order to review their existing accounts.
The CRAs code AR inquiries as "soft" pulls, meaning they are only shown on credit reports that are explicitly limited to view only by the named consumer.
They are not shown on most commercial credit reports and are not included in credit scoring.
The reports you receive from annualcreditreport.com are, by definition, limited to access only to the named consumer viewing his or her own report, and can thus show all inquiries, including any soft inquiries.
