CREDCO stands for CoreLogic Credco, and you may be wondering why it has shown up on your credit report (and if you can remove it). It may have popped up because you recently applied for a mortgage, auto loan, or another type of credit and the lender accessed your credit report through CoreLogic Credco.
In this guide, we explain what CoreLogic Credco is, how it appeared on your
credit report, what kind of company CoreLogic Credco is, and how you may be able to
remove it from your credit report.
Table of contents:
CoreLogic Credco is a subsidiary of CoreLogic, which is a leading provider of merged credit reporting services. Additionally, CoreLogic Credco provides identity verification products and compliance solutions.
[1]
CoreLogic Credco specializes in its merged credit reports, which means they merge the data from each credit reporting agency (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) into one consumer credit report. When doing a credit pull, lenders who want credit information from all three national credit bureaus can use CoreLogic Credco as a single source for that information. Lenders use this consolidated report to evaluate everything from mortgages to auto loans to lines of credit.
[2]
Contact Information:[3]
If you are seeing CoreLogic Credco on your credit report, the next sections explore the different possibilities why you may have this company listed.
You have applied for an auto loan, mortgage or any type of credit
If you applied for an auto loan, mortgage or another type of credit that
triggered a hard inquiry, you may have a CREDCO hard inquiry appear on your credit report. Since CoreLogic Credco serves as a go-between for some lenders and your credit information, you may not have been aware that CoreLogic Credco provided the inquiry for a lender until you see it on your report. You can contact CoreLogic Credco for additional information regarding which lender used its service.
[4] This hard inquiry does impact your credit score temporarily.
[5]
You have been prequalified for a mortgage, auto loan or other types of credit
CoreLogic Credco also performs soft inquiries across different industries. So if you have been prequalified for a mortgage, auto loan or some other type of credit, CREDCO may appear on your credit report for that soft inquiry. Just like hard inquiries, CoreLogic Credco provides an integrated, three-bureau report for lenders.
[6] Unlike a hard inquiry, a soft inquiry doesn’t impact your credit score but still appears on your credit report.
[5]
You have refinanced an auto loan
Refinancing an auto loan may be another reason you see CoreLogic Credco on your credit report. When you refinance your vehicle, your lender has to perform a hard inquiry, and CoreLogic Credco may have pulled your credit on behalf of your lender. This hard inquiry is the same as if you applied for new credit — it impacts your credit score temporarily.
[7]
You were screened for rental housing
CoreLogic Credco offers tenant screening services for landlords. If you applied for an apartment or to rent other accommodations, the landlord may have used CoreLogic Credco to pull a tenant screening for a background check on you.
[8]
You have undergone credit counseling
Getting
credit counseling services that utilize CoreLogic Credco’s Instant Merge SoftTouch credit report will cause CoreLogic Credco to show up on your report. However, it won’t hurt your credit — this is considered a soft inquiry which allows counselors to access your credit report without affecting your credit score.
[9][5]
You are a victim of identity theft
You could get it removed from your credit report, if you are a victim of identity theft or fraud. If you’ve never applied for new credit through which lenders used a report generated by CoreLogic Credco, it’s possible someone opened a credit account in your name.
[10]
If that’s the case, contact CoreLogic Credco and the credit reporting bureau that shows the inquiry. Also, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
[11]
CoreLogic Credco is a legitimate company but is not a consumer credit reporting agency, the company does resell your credit information as a three-bureau merged credit report to lenders. Following the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), CoreLogic Credco discloses your information only to lenders you have authorized to view your information for lending purposes.
[4]
You can only remove CoreLogic Credco — and anything else that shows up on your credit report — if the information is inaccurate. Unless CoreLogic Credco made a mistake or you can prove someone committed identity theft against you, you cannot have the item removed from your report.
[12] All other items, such as hard and soft inquiries due to applications for lines of credit or counseling services, typically cannot be removed.
If you have determined that the information on your report is inaccurate, you can take steps to remove it. These next sections explain how.
Obtain copies of your credit reports to see which bureaus the inquiry was reported to
To remove inaccurate information from your credit report, you need to first determine which bureaus have this information on your report — is it all three (
Experian,
TransUnion, and
Equifax) or just one or two? By law, you are allowed one
free credit report per year via
AnnualCreditReport.com — so get your credit reports from all three bureaus so you can see what is listed on each report.
Send a dispute letter
If you believe a company or credit bureau has reported inaccurate information in your credit history, draft a dispute letter and submit it to both the company that reported it as well as the credit bureaus that list that information.
[13] If the negative item was a result of fraudulent activity, this is especially important.
If you need help with this, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) offers contact information, dispute forms, and letter templates. They also have guidelines on how to deal with a dispute with each credit bureau.
[14]
The best way to prevent negative information from accumulating on your credit report is to stay on top of it and monitor it regularly. By law, you can check your credit report once per year for free from each of the three major credit bureaus via
AnnualCreditReport.com. You can check your credit report more often now for free because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All three bureaus still offer access to free weekly reports (
Experian,
Equifax and
TransUnion), and
Experian offers free credit scores as well.
[15]
Because your credit report is just one piece of the credit puzzle, you also need to check your credit score. By
reviewing your credit score regularly, you can be confident when mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other firms need to pull your credit to assess your application. You can spot inaccuracies early so you can get the problems fixed well in advance of when someone might need to check your credit score.
Sources:
- CoreLogic Credco. "CoreLogic Credco," https://www.credcoservices.com/company. Accessed September 27, 2022.
- CoreLogic Credco. "Consumer Assistance FAQs," https://www.corelogic.com/support/credco-consumer-assistance/. Accessed January 10, 2023.
- CoreLogic Credco. "Contact CoreLogic Credco," https://www.credcoservices.com/contact. Accessed September 27, 2022.
- CoreLogic Credco. "Credco Consumer Assistance," https://www.corelogic.com/support/credco-consumer-assistance. Accessed September 27, 2022.
- myFICO. “Credit Checks: What are credit inquiries and how do they affect your FICO® Score?” https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-reports/credit-checks-and-inquiries. Accessed October 8, 2022.
- CoreLogic Credco. “Three-Bureau PreQual,” https://www.credcoservices.com/credit-services/three-bureau-prequal-solution.aspx. Accessed October 12, 2022.
- myFICO. "How Can Refinancing an Auto Loan Impact My FICO® Scores?" https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/faq/scores/refinancing-auto-loan-impact-scores. Accessed September 27, 2022.
- CoreLogic Credco. “Tenant Screening,” https://www.credco.com/uploadedFiles/Credco_Site/Products/CredStar/Screening_Services_ds.pdf. Accessed October 8, 2022.
- CoreLogic Credco. "Counseling Solutions," https://credco.com/uploadedFiles/Credco_Site/Products/credit_counseling_ds.pdf. Accessed September 27, 2022.
- myFICO. “How to Protect Your Online Identity and What to Do If You Become an Identity Theft Victim,” https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/identity-theft. Accessed October 8, 2022.
- FTC.gov. “Report to help fight fraud!,” https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/. Accessed October 8, 2022.
- MyFICO. "How to fix errors on your credit reports and how they occur," https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-reports/fixing-errors. Accessed September 27, 2022.
- FTC.gov. “Credit report dispute,” https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/092016_cfpb__CreditReportingSampleLetter.pdf. Accessed October 8, 2022.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "How do I dispute an error on my credit report?" https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-dispute-an-error-on-my-credit-report-en-314. Accessed September. 27, 2022.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "How do I get a copy of my credit reports?" https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-get-a-copy-of-my-credit-reports-en-5. Accessed September. 27, 2022.
About the author
Ana Gonzalez-Ribeiro, MBA, AFC® is an
Accredited Financial Counselor® and a Bilingual Personal Finance Writer and Educator dedicated to helping populations that need financial literacy and counseling. Her informative articles have been published in various news outlets and websites including Huffington Post, Fidelity, Fox Business News, MSN and Yahoo Finance. She also founded the personal financial and motivational site
www.AcetheJourney.com and translated into Spanish the book, Financial Advice for Blue Collar America by Kathryn B. Hauer, CFP. Ana teaches Spanish or English personal finance courses on behalf of the W!SE (Working In Support of Education) program has taught workshops for nonprofits in NYC.
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