Actually, inquiries only affect your score for a limited time period... I believe three to six months. They are by far the least damaging.

However, it is amazing but one inquiry can drop your score by up to 5 points. I had one drop mine by three points... (curiosity... I ran my score, did an instant application for a charge card, was approved, and ran my score again immediately before the new card's approval could be entered to my score)

That's the good part of having credit reports...

If you maintain your credit in good stead, all of the old bad stuff will "fade away" as time passes... this means that your credit score will improve with time if you keep all your payments current...

This is especially good if you've got alot of hard inquiries on your credit report... inquiries decrease your credit score..

I've seen credit reports with 50+ inquiries on them.. This means that people are shopping for credit all over the place.. 50+ inquiries will drag down your credit score without you knowing..

Ahh ok, thanks for the information! Your site has been really helpful!

I believe that it's a notation on your account.. for creditors to see..

As time passes your credit score will increase...

I don't think they give you extra credit for paying that... I believe it's just a notation...

With the items being marked as paid, will this slowly but surely increase my beacon score?

logidev... that's the idea...

Also, I've seen things like bankruptcies with the court listed as court of queens bench or even small claims court... bankruptcies are jurisdiction of the Federal government and couldn't possibly come from provincial governments...

This item must be verifiable by Equifax and TransUnion.. ask them to verify the facts.

Well I know the amount listed and the amount I paid is different. Can I have this entry removed based on that? I have tried going to the courthouse to get proof of full payment but they said since it was so long ago, it was placed in their archives.

hey logidev...

1) make sure that the item is marked PAID... small claims will stay on your report for 6 years like everything else...

2) You can dispute the item if the information pertaining to the small claims listing is inaccurate, incomplete or not verifiable...

Equifax and TransUnion buy these pieces of information from the courts and there are usually many errors on them as they have to be manually transcribed..

I had a Small claims court item on my credit report to which was fully paid. Does this need to stay on my report (not sure why it was there in the first place) or can I ask to have this removed from my credit report?

Hey logidev,

I'm not really surprised...
It's a good idea to fire dispute letter to Equifax and TransUnion each week until it's fixed... The credit bureaus have a "reasonable" amount of time to fix any inaccuracies on your credit report..