How to Dispute a Hard Inquiry on Credit Karma

To dispute a hard inquiry on Credit Karma, open your TransUnion credit report inside the app or website, find the inquiry in the hard inquiries section, and use the Direct Dispute tool to submit your challenge to TransUnion without leaving the platform.¹ The tool only works for inquiries you did not authorize, such as those tied to identity theft or a lender pulling your report without permission.

Which Hard Inquiries You Can Actually Dispute

A hard inquiry is only removable when it is genuinely unauthorized or inaccurate. That covers three situations:

Someone used your personal information to apply for credit without your knowledge.
A lender pulled your credit report even though you never submitted an application.
The inquiry belongs to another person and was placed on your file in error.

You cannot get a legitimate inquiry taken off because you changed your mind, were denied, or dislike the score dip. If you authorized the credit check, the inquiry is accurate and stays on your report for up to two years. Filing a dispute against an inquiry you actually authorized risks being flagged as frivolous, which lets the bureau stop investigating until you provide more evidence.²

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Gather your documentation first. The dispute form can time out, and a well-supported submission is harder to dismiss. You’ll want:

The exact lender name as it appears on your report.
The date the inquiry was recorded.
A short, factual reason, such as “I never applied for credit with this lender” or “this inquiry resulted from identity theft.”
Supporting documents for fraud-related disputes: an identity theft report from IdentityTheft.gov or a police report, plus any written acknowledgment from the creditor if you have one.³

Save attachments as common image or PDF files before you begin. If you’re disputing more than one inquiry, keep the documentation for each one separate.

Filing the Dispute Through Credit Karma

Credit Karma’s Direct Dispute feature submits your challenge to TransUnion from inside the platform. The flow:

Sign in to your Credit Karma account.
Open your credit reports from the dashboard and select the TransUnion report.
Scroll to the hard inquiries section and select the entry you want to challenge.
Choose the dispute option. Credit Karma walks you through the submission without redirecting you to another site.¹
Enter the reason for the dispute, add your explanation, and upload your supporting documents.
Review the summary screen carefully. Check the lender name, date, reason codes, and files before submitting.

After you submit, a confirmation screen shows a dispute reference number, and an automated email usually follows. Track the status from your Credit Karma dashboard or through TransUnion’s site.⁴

Equifax and Experian Inquiries

Credit Karma shows reports from TransUnion and Equifax, but the Direct Dispute tool only submits to TransUnion.⁵ If the unauthorized inquiry is on your Equifax report, Credit Karma links out to Equifax’s own portal, where you create an account, submit the dispute, and receive a 10-digit confirmation code to track the outcome.⁶

Credit Karma does not show your Experian report at all. If you think unauthorized inquiries could also be on your Experian file, check and dispute those separately through Experian directly or by pulling your free report at AnnualCreditReport.com.

What Happens After You Submit

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives the bureau 30 days to investigate and resolve your dispute. Adding new information mid-investigation can extend that window by up to 15 days, for a maximum of 45.⁷

During the investigation, the bureau asks the lender that initiated the hard inquiry to verify you authorized the credit pull. If the lender confirms authorization with supporting evidence, the inquiry stays. If the lender can’t provide proof or doesn’t respond, the bureau must remove the inquiry. You’ll get the outcome by email or through your Credit Karma dashboard.

Faster Removal if It’s Identity Theft

When the unauthorized inquiry came from identity theft, you have a quicker route. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the bureau to block information you identify as the result of identity theft within four business days of receiving the required documentation.⁸ To qualify, you must submit:

Proof of your identity.
A copy of your identity theft report (from IdentityTheft.gov or a police report).⁹
Identification of the specific information you believe resulted from identity theft.
A statement confirming you did not authorize the transaction or inquiry.

IdentityTheft.gov, run by the Federal Trade Commission, is usually the easiest way to generate an official identity theft report. The site asks a series of questions, builds a recovery plan, and produces a report the credit bureaus accept. Filing a false report is illegal and can carry fines or criminal penalties.

If Your Dispute Is Denied

A denial isn’t the end of the road. You have three follow-up options.

Add a Statement to Your Credit File

You have the right to add a brief written statement to your file explaining why you still believe the inquiry is inaccurate. If the bureau helps you draft a clear summary, it can limit the statement to 100 words. Future lenders who pull your report see it alongside the disputed inquiry.⁷

Dispute Directly With the Lender

Contact the lender that pulled your credit and ask it to remove the inquiry. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a lender that receives a direct dispute from a consumer must conduct a reasonable investigation unless it decides the dispute is frivolous, in which case it must notify you within five business days and explain what additional information it needs.¹⁰ The FTC publishes a sample dispute letter that covers what to include: your contact information, the inquiry you’re disputing, a clear reason it’s inaccurate, and copies of any supporting documents.¹¹ Send it by certified mail with a return receipt so you have proof of delivery.

File a Complaint With the CFPB

If neither the bureau nor the lender resolves the issue, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB forwards the complaint to the company and generally expects a response within 15 days, with up to 60 days for complex cases. You can submit online in about 10 minutes or by phone at (855) 411-2372.¹² Include the documentation you used in the original dispute along with the bureau’s denial. You generally cannot submit a second complaint about the same issue, so put everything relevant in the first submission.

1
Intuit Credit Karma. Check Your Free Credit Reports
2
Federal Trade Commission. Disputing Errors on Your Credit Reports
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Dispute an Error on My Credit Report
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TransUnion. Credit Disputes
5
Intuit Credit Karma. How to Dispute an Error on Your Credit Report
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Equifax. File a Dispute on Your Equifax Credit Report
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-2 – Block of Information Resulting From Identity Theft
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IdentityTheft.gov. IdentityTheft.gov
10
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-07 – Reasonable Investigation of Consumer Reporting Disputes
11
Federal Trade Commission. Sample Letter Disputing Errors on Credit Reports to the Business That Supplied the Information
12
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint