unauthorized inquiries by car dealership

[HouseHunter]

I have an old hard pull from a collection agency on my credit report that clearly states "for collection purposes" to the side.  They do hard pulls too and I vaguely remember reading on another board that this may be legal.  As if they don't try to destroy people enough as it is by selling the account over and over and can legally report the same debt everytime it changes hands resulting in the appearance of multiple collections when there's only one TRUE delinquency.  Then they can burn you up with inquiries if they so choose.  Talk about kicking someone when they're down....

This whole system seems a bit unfair in certain aspects and, IMHO, needs some major overhaul.

[Irvin]

No, I know its not the inquiries that are lowering my score. But they DID lower my scores when they first appeared there. Last one i got was a year ago. But my question was whether i would be able to get those removed since I did not even know about the inquiries.

[jackg]

I experienced the same circumstances. I resolved it by writing to the oc and explaining they did not have permissable purpose. They rescinded the inquiry.

[Tuscani]

I just want to add a few things...

1) The EQ trick for disputing does not work if you file is managed by CSC

2) Be VERY careful HOW you are disputing INQs (aka.. saying NOT MINE). You do not want a fraud alert on your file if you can help it.  

3) It is my understanding that Inqs older than 12 months are no longer calcuted in your score (with the previous 6 months holding the most weight).

[Noah_Bodie]

If one lives in a CSC state, then one can dispute and delete INQs in the same manner.

Fraud alert, schmaud alert. Got one on my account. Hasn't caused me any problems, other than not being able to get the wife signed up for a MyFico free trial. But once you've got a MyFico Scorewatch subscription, fraud alert won't hurt you. Besides, it drops in 90 days and you can write and get it removed.

Heard mixed things about INQs older than 12 months. Certainly carry less weight, but not entirely weightless.