How to Remove Credit Enquiries from Your Credit File in Australia

You Didn't Realise They Were All Checking Your Credit

You were just looking at cars. Maybe you sat down at two or three different dealerships over a weekend, filled in a few forms, and drove home to think about it. No one told you that every single one of those dealers was pulling your credit file. No one asked for your clear, informed consent. And now, weeks later, you've checked your own credit score and the number has dropped. Five hard enquiries are sitting on your file. You didn't even buy a car.

Or maybe it was credit cards. You got knocked back for one, so you tried another provider. Then another. Each time, another hard enquiry landed on your file. What started as trying to get approved turned into the very thing making approval harder.

If this sounds like your situation, take a breath. You're not the first person we've helped with this, and you won't be the last. At Australian Credit Solutions, credit enquiry removal is one of the most common issues we deal with. And in many cases, those enquiries can come off your file entirely.

What Are Credit Enquiries and How Do They End Up on Your File?

When you apply for any form of credit in Australia — a home loan, credit card, car finance, even a phone plan on contract — the lender accesses your credit file to assess your risk. That access is recorded as a hard enquiry, also called a credit check or credit pull. It stays on your file for five years.

There's also a second type called a soft enquiry. This is when you check your own credit score, when a lender does a pre-qualification check, or when an existing creditor reviews your account. Soft enquiries are invisible to other lenders and have zero impact on your score.

The important distinction is this: hard enquiries are visible to every lender who looks at your file. And they tell a story. One or two enquiries in the past year? That's normal. Five or six in the space of a few weeks? That's a red flag.

Why Multiple Enquiries Hurt More Than You Think

Each hard enquiry on its own might only shave a few points off your credit score. But the real damage isn't in the number — it's in the pattern. When a lender sees multiple enquiries in a short window, they don't see someone shopping around. They see someone who's been knocked back repeatedly and is getting desperate for credit.

This is what the industry calls "credit shopping," and it's one of the fastest ways to go from an average score to a below-average one. Even if you were just comparing rates or browsing, the enquiries on your file tell a different story to lenders.

The consequences are real. You might get knocked back for a home loan. A personal loan application might come with a higher interest rate. Some lenders won't even look past the first page of your credit file if they see five or six recent enquiries. It's not fair, but it's how the system works.

Common Myths About Credit Enquiries

Myth: All Enquiries Are the Same

They're not. Hard enquiries and soft enquiries are completely different. A hard enquiry is recorded when a lender assesses you for new credit, and it's visible to every other lender who checks your file. A soft enquiry — like checking your own score on Credit Savvy or a pre-approval check — doesn't appear to other lenders at all. Knowing the difference matters, because only hard enquiries can damage your score.

Myth: You Can't Remove Enquiries Once They're on Your File

This is one of the biggest misconceptions we encounter. While legitimate, authorised enquiries will stay on your file for five years, any enquiry that was made without your proper consent or without a legitimate credit purpose can be disputed and removed. The Privacy Act 1988 is clear about this: a credit provider must have both your consent and a permissible purpose before accessing your file. If either requirement is missing, the enquiry shouldn't be there.

Myth: Enquiries Don't Really Affect Your Score

Each individual enquiry might have a modest impact, but multiple enquiries compound quickly. We regularly see clients whose scores have dropped 50 to 100 points or more purely from accumulated hard enquiries. For someone sitting on the borderline of approval for a home loan, that can be the difference between getting the keys and getting a rejection letter.

Myth: Comparing Rates Means Multiple Enquiries

Some people believe that shopping around for the best rate automatically means stacking up enquiries. But a good mortgage broker or finance professional should be able to compare options using a single credit pull. If multiple providers each ran their own check without your knowledge, those additional enquiries may not have been authorised. That's exactly the kind of situation where removal is possible.

When Can Credit Enquiries Be Removed?

Under the Privacy Act 1988, a credit provider must meet two requirements before they access your credit file. First, they need your informed consent. That means you understood and agreed that a credit check would be performed. Second, they need a legitimate purpose — typically, assessing an application for credit that you've actually submitted.

If either of these requirements wasn't met, the enquiry is potentially removable. Here are the most common grounds we use to challenge enquiries:

• No consent given: The credit provider pulled your file without your knowledge or clear agreement. This happens frequently at car dealerships where "paperwork" includes a credit check buried in the fine print.
• No legitimate purpose: The enquiry was made for a reason that doesn't qualify under the Privacy Act, such as a general background check disguised as a credit assessment.
• Consent was obtained through misleading conduct: You were told it was a "soft check" or a "quick look" when it was actually a full hard enquiry.
• Duplicate enquiries: The same provider ran multiple checks for a single application, recording more enquiries than necessary.

Learn more about our dedicated credit enquiry removal service and how we investigate each listing on your file.

Real Scenario: Six Dealer Enquiries in One Weekend

We recently worked with a client — let's call him Daniel — who spent a Saturday visiting car dealerships in western Sydney. He was upgrading his family car and wanted to compare prices. At four different dealerships, he sat down, discussed finance options, and filled in what he thought were basic quote forms.

Two weeks later, Daniel checked his credit score through his banking app and noticed it had dropped by over 80 points. When he pulled his full credit file, he found six hard enquiries — four from the dealerships and two from finance companies he'd never heard of. The dealers had passed his details on to their preferred lenders without telling him.

Daniel came to us feeling frustrated and embarrassed. He thought he'd made an irreversible mistake. But when we investigated, we found that three of the six enquiries lacked proper consent documentation. The dealerships couldn't produce signed authority forms, and the two broker-initiated enquiries had no direct consent trail at all. Within six weeks, we had five of the six enquiries removed from his file. His score recovered, and he went on to secure car finance at a competitive rate with a lender of his choosing.

Key Stat: We have a 98% success rate when we take on cases — because we only accept cases where we've identified legitimate grounds to challenge the listing.

What You Can Do Right Now

Step 1: Get a Copy of Your Credit File

Request your free credit file from all three Australian credit reporting bodies: Equifax, Experian, and illion. Different lenders report to different bureaus, so you need all three to get the complete picture. You can request them online for free — it's your legal right under the Privacy Act.

Step 2: Identify Every Hard Enquiry

Go through each file and list out every hard enquiry. Note the date, the name of the credit provider, and whether you actually remember applying for credit with them. Pay special attention to enquiries from companies you don't recognise — these may have been initiated by brokers or dealers without your direct knowledge.

Step 3: Check Your Consent

For each enquiry, ask yourself: did I clearly agree to a credit check with this specific provider? Did I sign a form that explicitly stated my credit file would be accessed? If the answer is no, or if you're not sure, that enquiry is worth investigating further.

Step 4: Decide Whether to Dispute Yourself or Get Help

You can dispute an enquiry directly by writing to the credit reporting body and the credit provider. However, credit providers are often slow to respond to individual disputes, and the process can be confusing. A professional credit report analysis can identify all removable listings quickly and handle the dispute process on your behalf.

How Australian Credit Solutions Can Help

We're ASIC Licensed (ACL 532003) and led by qualified lawyer Elisa Rothschild (BA/LLB). Credit enquiry disputes are one of our core specialities, and we handle hundreds of these cases every year. Our process is straightforward:

• We review your full credit file from all three bureaus
• We identify every enquiry that may lack proper consent or a legitimate purpose
• We prepare formal dispute submissions citing specific provisions of the Privacy Act 1988
• We deal directly with the credit providers and credit reporting bodies on your behalf
• We keep you updated at every stage until the matter is resolved

If you're not sure where you stand, start with a free credit assessment. We'll review your file and tell you honestly what can be removed and what can't. There's no pressure and no obligation.

Elisa Rothschild

(BA/LLB)

Principal Lawyer & Director

With over 12 years of experience in credit law, Elisa has helped thousands of Australians remove unfair credit listings and rebuild their financial futures. She leads Australian Credit Solutions' legal team with a focus on consumer advocacy and regulatory compliance.

ASIC Licensed

12+ Years Experience

970+ Clients Helped

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