How to Remove DFS/WEBBANK from Your Credit Report
Wondering why DFS/WebBank showed up on your credit report? Short for Dell Financial Services/WebBank, the entry has likely appeared on your report because you applied for a Dell Preferred Account.
A hard inquiry from a lender or service provider is usually nothing to panic about. However, if you didn’t apply for a card, yet a hard inquiry has appeared on your report, it could be due to a reporting error or signal a more serious issue, such as identity theft.
Why DFS/WebBank might appear on your credit report
DFS represents one of the most popular tech companies on the market, Dell, and more specifically, its financing center. WebBank partners with Dell Financial Services, supporting its financing plans. It also has strategic partnerships with companies such as:
- Avant
- Fingerhut
- Prosper
- Yamaha
Dell and WebBank offer a financial product called the Dell Preferred Account, which represents a revolving line of credit for financing Dell products. The account rewards you for purchasing products from Dell using this credit and also offers interest-free financing on several products.
When DFS/WebBank appears on a consumer’s credit report, it’s most likely because an application resulted in a hard inquiry.
How does a DFS/WebBank hard inquiry impact your credit report?
When you are pre-qualified for financing from Dell or any other lender or creditor, all that’s involved is a soft inquiry. Credit monitoring apps also make this type of inquiry when you check your score. It doesn’t lower your score and might not even make it onto your report.
Hard inquiries are slightly more impactful than soft inquiries. They occur when you go beyond rate shopping and pre-approval and actually apply for a loan or card.
When you turn in an application for a card, loan, or line of credit, the lender accesses one or more of your credit reports and uses the information to assess whether you’re a dependable borrower. The process results in an inquiry on your report, which usually lowers your score by a few points.
Compared with other entries, hard inquiries have very little impact on your score, lowering it only slightly and falling off your report in two years. While no one wants to see their score drop, hard inquiries are essential to obtaining loans and credit cards.
As long as your report doesn’t include a plethora of inquiries (which may suggest you’re financially unstable and desperate for funding), you don’t need to worry about a few inquiries on your report. A slew of hard inquiries can add up, so here are a couple of tips for keeping them at bay:
- Don’t waste time applying for offers you aren’t likely to get. Look at a card or loan’s credit requirements and weigh your approval odds before applying.
- Shop for mortgages and other individual types of loans/credit within a 14-day period to avoid repeated inquiries.
How to remove DFS/WebBank from your credit report
Whether you prefer using a Mac or you’ve financed your Dell products on your own, if you’ve never applied for a Dell Preferred Account, it shouldn’t be on your credit report. A hard inquiry with an unknown origin could signal identity theft. Or it could simply be due to a reporting mistake.
Regardless, you should get the inquiry taken off your report. Below, we will tell you how.
Go to the source
The first place you should turn for answers is the source of the inquiry. Try contacting Dell Financial Services or WebBank to ask about the inquiry and fill them in on the situation. They should provide details on the application that prompted the hard inquiry and, if there’s been a mistake, help you get to the bottom of the issue.
Contact information:
WebBank, Dell Financial Services
P.O. Box 81575
Austin, TX 78708-1575
1-800-283-2210
File a dispute with the bureaus
Whether you suspect identity fraud or a reporting error, your next step should be to file a dispute with the bureaus. As lenders can obtain any of your credit reports, check all three (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) to see which have an inquiry from DFS. You can then file a dispute with each bureau that displays the hard inquiry on their report.
When raising a dispute, you can write a letter of dispute to the bureaus in question or submit one online. Once you submit your dispute, the bureau should open an investigation. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives bureaus 30 days to investigate a dispute. They should delete the entry if they detect fraud or erroneous reporting.
If you fear someone is using your identity to obtain credit, you can place a security freeze on your credit reports. You can also send a fraud alert to the bureau to keep them abreast of the situation.
Stay up to date on your credit
You should never miss a beat when it comes to changes to your credit. You can get one free copy of your report each year at annualcreditreport.com, but you can also monitor your credit daily.
Credit monitoring apps make tracking your score and new entries easy, notifying you of new additions to your report. They also regularly update your score so you never have to wonder where your credit stands. These apps can play a critical role in preventing identity thieves from wreaking havoc on your score, as well as detecting reporting errors quickly. If you’re looking for a more robust platform that features all three of your credit scores, several paid apps are available, as well as the following free versions:
- Experian Boost
- Credit Karma
- Credit Sesame
Enlist the help of a credit repair company
Do you dread the task of filing disputes and contacting lenders about hard inquiries? If so, you may want to enlist the help of a credit repair company. These companies take the hassle out of dealing with inaccurate inquiries and help get them removed from your report promptly.
A credit repair company can be a lifesaver if you're facing severe credit issues. They’re adept at confronting challenging credit problems, including:
- Charge-offs
- Liens
- Judgments
- Repossessions
- Late payments
- Collections
- Foreclosure
- Bankruptcy
Take a look at our list of the top credit repair companies to see what each company has to offer.
Dealing with DFS/WebBank on your credit report
A hard inquiry is nothing to stress over when applying for financing. Even if your application is unsuccessful, a hard inquiry is far from the most damaging type of entry that can appear on your report.
Though hard inquiries fall off naturally in a couple of years and don’t do much to damage your score, you shouldn’t ignore an inquiry you didn’t authorize. A mysterious inquiry could be a sign you’re being targeted by an identity thief, which can jeopardize your financial future.
If you need help getting your score on track, remember there are several excellent credit repair services to help you.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect current contact information for DFS/WebBank.
Disclaimer: This story was originally published on December 30, 2020, on BetterCreditBlog.org. To find the most relevant information concerning collections or credit card inquiries, please visit: https://money.com/how-to-remove-collections-from-credit-report/ or https://money.com/get-items-removed-from-credit-report/