Frequently, when doing credit counseling, I look at a credit report which is full of pot holes: collections, late pays, charge-offs and the initial focus of the client is on removing inquires.

Sure, the removal of inquiries is pretty easy. But it will have a pretty small effect on the client’s score. The client with this kind of credit report has bigger fish to fry rather than working on inquires. I always suggest focusing on the biggest bang for the buck (listed in order of importance) FIRST:

1. Paying down balances
2. Disputing negative items with the credit bureus
3. Removing collections (using debt validation, pay for delete, or dispute with information furnisher)
4. Removing late pays on credit cards, mortgages. See the credit repair method.

Once you deal with these items, then I’d say you can work on the inquires. Or if your credit report is fairly clean, but you have a ton of inquiries (more than 10), then I’d say a little effort towards removing them is a good idea.

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