When can an inquiry be made of a credit-reporting bureau?

An inquiry can be made of a credit-reporting bureau when the customer signs a credit application. This is because signing a credit application gives permission to the lender or the entity seeking the credit report to access the customer's credit history. This access helps the lender assess the customer's creditworthiness and ability to repay a loan.

By signing the application, the customer is acknowledging their agreement for the lender to check their credit status, which is a standard procedure in the lending process. The other options, while they may relate to the credit process, do not inherently grant permission for the inquiry in the same way that signing the credit application does. For instance, requesting one’s own report or providing a Social Security number does not necessarily imply consent for a separate party to conduct a credit check. Similarly, the loan amount being over a certain threshold does not determine the ability to inquire about credit, as consent from the customer is the key aspect that allows the inquiry to take place.