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Disputing inquires is tough.
The FCRA requires anyone requesting your CR to provide a certification of the permissible purpose of that inquiry.
Just as the CRAs rely on furnishers of information to a consumer's credit file to comply with their statutory requirement to not knowingly report false information, they rely on the self-certification provided by an inquiree when providing a credit report as being presumptively accurate.
Overcoming the presumption of accuracy requires the consumer to present some documentation of asserted inaccuracy.
Additionally, dispute over inquiries are reserve only for disputes made via a CRA. The direct dispute process specficially exempts all disputes relating to credit report inquiries. With the presumption of accuracy of a stated permissible purpose, it is very difficult to prevail in a dispute through the CRA.
Its is possible to get them removed, but YMMV. I had a few removed that were not auth by a car dealer one time.
I had one removed from TR it was an oil company a roomate tried to set up an account with. I called spoke with manager and she wrote letter to TR to have it removed. It took a little work but I explained inq and their effect on a thin file and the fact that I didnt request service. It uped my score about 11 point YMMV but I have a thin file. I would sent a DV to the CA that pulled your credit. If they are only peeking at report for more opportune time. This way if there is a pending collection you can deal with it and hopefully they will stop pulling your report. I know there are people that will say wait for a dunning but seriously most collection agencies will either ignore if they dont have proof of owning acount or will respond with validation of a debt. IMO its better then being a sitting duck waiting for them to HP your report again.
Presuming that the debt collector complied with their statutory obligation to have sent dunning notice, a DV sent after 30 days from that notice wont invoke a cease collection bar, and thus would not prevent any continued debt collection practices on their part.