CBNA on My Credit Report: What Is It & How to Remove It

What is CBNA?

CBNA is a credit report code that generally stands for Citibank North America. Citibank is the 4th largest credit card issuer in the United States. They have approximately 200 million customers.

Why is CBNA on my credit report?

‘CBNA credit card’ may be on your credit report as a hard inquiry. This happens when you’ve applied for a credit card issued by Citibank.

Citi has some of the most popular credit cards on the market such as:

Citi Diamond Preferred
Citi Double Cash
Citi Premier
Citi Prestige
Citi Rewards Card
Citi Simplicity

They also have co-branded cards with brands such as:

American Airlines
AT&T
Best Buy
Costco
Expedia
The Home Depot

Citibank (CBNA) Hard Inquiries

The following is a list of Citibank inquiry codes that you may find on your credit report:

What else does CBNA stand for?

The CBNA acronym is most commonly used by Citibank North America, but other institutions also use it.

Community Bank, N.A.: CBNA also stands for Community Bank, N.A. This is a community bank with locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Vermont
Credit Bureau of North America: CBNA is also an acronym for Credit Bureau of North America, which is a debt collection agency.
Comenity Bank: In some cases, CBNA may stand for Comenity Bank, which is a credit card company that specializes in store credit cards.

What is a hard inquiry?

A hard inquiry occurs any time you apply for new credit and the lender or creditor runs a credit check. It can be for a mortgage, apartment, car loan, credit card, insurance policy, cell phone, and sometimes even a job application.

Hard inquiries will typically only drop your credit score by a few points. However, if you have too many, especially in a short period of time, they can really start to add up and do some damage.

What is a soft inquiry?

A soft inquiry typically occurs when a company checks your credit history as part of a background check. It can also happen when a credit card issuer or lender checks your credit to prequalify you for an offer. Sometimes a soft inquiry might even be pulled by an existing creditor just checking on your current credit situation.

Soft inquiries do not have an impact on your credit scores.

Unauthorized Inquiries

If you haven’t applied for a CBNA credit card, or don’t recognize the credit inquiry, contact Citibank North America and ask them why an inquiry was made. The creditor’s name should be listed under the hard inquiry section of your credit report.

How long does a CBNA inquiry stay on your credit report?

A hard credit inquiry can remain on your credit report for up to two years. Each time a hard inquiry is made, it is recorded by one or all of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Having a single hard inquiry on your credit report like CBNA won’t cause much damage to your credit score. However, if you have multiple credit inquiries within a 2-year period, they can impact your credit significantly.

Can CBNA be removed from my credit report?

Lexington Law specializes in removing CBNA inquiries and other negative marks on your credit report. With more than 18 years of experience, they achieved over 6 million removals for their clients in 2021 alone.

They can also help you dispute (and possibly remove) the following items: