CIS/Hawk Inquiry on My Credit Report

[desertredbird]

Hi everyone - I'm a relatively new member here but have already found the support very helpful!  I am applying for a mortgage so generating some new inquiries on my reports, but now one of them is rather disturbing to me.  It is an inquiry from CIS/Hawk.  it was not disturbing until I looked up what that means!  Apparently it means they were concerned someone was pretending to be me?  Obviously that is not the case, but now I am worried this will hinder my mortgage approval.  

Questions: 

1.  Is this Hawk inquiry the same as a Hawk alert? 

2.  Do I need to find a way to get it removed?  

3.  Will it hinder my approvals in the meantime? 

Thank you so much. 

[DSTforlife]

I don't know if it's the same thing or if there was a CIS/Hawk alert, but when we refinanced our home last year, I had to write a letter explaining a particular address on my credit report (from a home my mom lived in way back in 1991).  I didn't think anything of it, but when we went through underwriting for a HELOC, I was asked to write the same letter.  I asked the loan officer why i had to write it for that particular address, and she told me the address came up in a fraud report (she couldn't disclose which one).   I wrote a simple note stating it was a rental which my Mom lived in back in 1991 and I used the address as my permanent residence because I was in college.  My mom moved from there back in the mid 90's and I never lived there.  They accepted the letter without issue.

When I googled CIS/Hawk, i wondered if it's a similar situation.  However, I never had a hard inquiry (or soft inquiry) related to it.

If it's a hard inquiry, the lender will see it and investigate anyway, so it doesn't hurt to ask them what it is.  Better yet, post this question in the mortgage forum....shanethemortgageman or another mortgage loan officer will more than likely respond.

good luck!

[FireMedic1]

Welcome to the forums @desertredbird 

Congrats on getting your home. With what I gathered. A hawk alert is a fraud detection tool used by the credit reporting agencies. When a company orders a credit report on someone, a search is done across all the credit reporting databases for fraudulent or incorrect information. When material discrepancies are found, they are printed out as a hawk alert.

@ShanetheMortgageManwill know more and help out.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

As has been mentioned, it's just a fraud detection tool (a/k/a "fraud report").  Almost all lenders will run it and it can bring up all sorts of information such as businesses that have been operating out of addresses you've been affiliated with, varying misspellings of your name, etc.  Worst case is the lender may ask for explanations for items that pop up, but it's never been a roadblock to getting approved as long as you are willing to cooperate with whatever your lender is asking from you (which is often just your explanations).

[desertredbird]

Thank you so much, Shane, and sorry for my late response here - this was extremely helpful in clarifying my issue/concerns!

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@ShanetheMortgageMan wrote:

As has been mentioned, it's just a fraud detection tool (a/k/a "fraud report").  Almost all lenders will run it and it can bring up all sorts of information such as businesses that have been operating out of addresses you've been affiliated with, varying misspellings of your name, etc.  Worst case is the lender may ask for explanations for items that pop up, but it's never been a roadblock to getting approved as long as you are willing to cooperate with whatever your lender is asking from you (which is often just your explanations).

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