If you see “CREDCO” or “CoreLogic Credco” in the inquiries section of your credit report, it almost always traces back to a loan application, most often a mortgage. Credco is a company that produces merged credit reports for lenders. In its own words, “Credco specializes in merged credit reports, which may bring together data from all three of the national consumer credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union)” (Credco Consumer Assistance). Credco is now part of Cotality, the company formerly known as CoreLogic.
This guide explains what a Credco inquiry means, how it affects your score, and what to do if you don’t recognize it.
Key Takeaways
- Credco pulls and merges your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion reports for lenders, mostly mortgage lenders.
- A Credco inquiry usually means you applied for a loan and the lender used Credco to get your reports.
- Mortgage inquiries made while you shop for rates are grouped together by FICO and VantageScore scoring models.
- Errors in a Credco report usually come from the bureau data it pulled, so fix them at Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion.
- If you don’t recognize a Credco inquiry, contact Credco to find out which lender requested it.
What Is Credco?
Credco is a credit reporting company that builds merged reports, often called “tri-merge” reports in mortgage lending, by combining data from the three national bureaus into one report for a lender. The company operates as CoreLogic Credco, and its consumer page now carries the Cotality name after CoreLogic rebranded in 2025 (Cotality).
Credco’s reports are built from data it retrieves from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion at a lender’s request, rather than from its own credit history on you. Our guide to secondary credit bureaus explains how Credco differs from companies like Innovis that keep their own files.
Why Is CREDCO on My Credit Report?
Credco says a Credco inquiry usually results from a loan application you submitted. When a lender orders a merged report through Credco, the bureaus record the request, and it can show up as “CREDCO,” “CoreLogic Credco,” or a similar name rather than the lender’s name. If the lender pulled all three bureaus, you may see the inquiry on each of your reports.
Common reasons:
- A mortgage application or preapproval. This is the most common source.
- A refinance or home equity application.
- Other loan applications where the lender uses Credco for its credit reports.
Check the date of the inquiry against your own applications. If it matches a time you were shopping for a mortgage, it’s almost certainly that lender.
Does a Credco Inquiry Hurt Your Credit Score?
A hard inquiry can lower your score a little, but scoring models give mortgage shoppers room to compare lenders:
| Scoring model | How mortgage rate shopping is treated |
|---|---|
| FICO Score (newer versions) | Multiple mortgage, auto, or student loan inquiries within any 45-day span count as one. Inquiries made in the 30 days before scoring are ignored. |
| FICO Score (older versions) | The grouping window is 14 days. |
| VantageScore | Multiple mortgage or auto inquiries within a 14-day rolling window are treated as a single search. |
What If You Don’t Recognize a Credco Inquiry?
- Check your own records. Look for loan applications, preapprovals, or refinance quotes around the inquiry date.
- Contact Credco. Its Consumer Services Department handles questions about inquiries, requests for a copy of a Credco report, and disputes. Ask which lender ordered the report.
- Contact that lender. Ask for its permissible purpose for pulling your credit.
- Dispute it if it’s not yours. If you didn’t apply and no one had a valid reason to pull your report, dispute the inquiry with each bureau showing it. Our guide to permissible purpose explains when an inquiry isn’t allowed.
An inquiry you don’t recognize can also be a sign of identity theft. Here’s how to remove hard inquiries from your credit report.
How to Contact Credco
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| Phone | (800) 637-2422, Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific |
| Credco, Consumer Services Department, P.O. Box 509124, San Diego, CA 92150 | |
| ID to include | Personal identification and address verification, such as a driver’s license or passport, or a utility bill dated within the last 120 days |
Disputing an Error in a Credco Report
Because Credco resells bureau data, the law treats it as a reseller. When you dispute with a reseller, it must determine within five business days whether the error is its own. If it is, it must correct or delete the information within 20 days. If it isn’t, it must pass your dispute to each bureau that supplied the information (15 U.S.C. 1681i(f)).
In practice, that means most errors in a Credco report are fixed at the source. If an account, late payment, or balance is wrong, dispute it with Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion and with the company that reported it. Correcting it there fixes it for the next merged report too.
Some errors can start at the reseller, such as mixing in another person’s information when the reports are merged. In one class action, Credco agreed to a $5.695 million settlement over claims that it reported living consumers as deceased (Top Class Actions). If a Credco report shows something that doesn’t appear on your bureau reports, dispute it with Credco directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CoreLogic Credco?
It’s the company that produces merged credit reports for lenders, combining data from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It’s now part of Cotality, formerly CoreLogic.
Is a Credco inquiry a hard inquiry?
Usually, yes, when it comes from a credit application such as a mortgage. Mortgage inquiries made while you shop for rates are grouped together by FICO and VantageScore models.
Can I get my Credco credit report?
Yes. Contact Credco’s Consumer Services Department by phone or mail to request a copy of a report it prepared about you.
Can I remove a Credco inquiry?
Only if it’s inaccurate or unauthorized, such as an application you never made. An inquiry from a mortgage you applied for is accurate and will stay on your report for two years.
What’s the Next Step?
Match any Credco inquiry to your own loan applications. If one doesn’t match, contact Credco to find out which lender ordered it, then dispute it if no one had a valid reason to pull your credit.
SmartDispute compares your three reports side by side, including your inquiries, and drafts suggested disputes for each bureau and each reporting company, for you to review, change, and mail yourself. See how SmartDispute works.