I've become aware of a situation where my property and name are listed in the public records as the collateral on someone else's personal loan. When I called the financial institution originating the loan, they found no record of it at all. They suggested looking on my credit report to see if the loan shows up and if it does, disputing it so that they can remove it. Will this inquiry hurt the refinancing of my home or my credit in general?

You've been given good advice. In a situation like yours, having the credit bureau(s) investigating along with you could really help. And you don't have to worry about any inquiry you make into your credit file negatively impacting your credit rating. Requests people make for their own credit reports are treated differently than an inquiry from a credit grantor where they have applied for credit, and are never even displayed when lenders check your credit.

On the other hand, if your credit report shows your property as collateral on somebody else's loan, that could limit your ability to refinance your home (especially if it's the property so listed). If the property appears to be committed to another credit grantor, lenders may be reluctant to refinance it because they would have a much tougher time foreclosing on it if you were to stop repaying the loan. And even if the property identified as collateral is not your home, it may affect your credit rating if it looks to lenders like you cosigned the loan. Because a cosigner is legally responsible to repay a debt if the primary borrower defaults, any loan for which you cosign (or appear to have cosigned) is considered one of the outstanding obligations in your debt-to-income ratio, and can limit your ability to obtain additional new credit.

So by all means do check your credit report, and if anything about this other person's loan appears, file a dispute right away. While you're at it, check the report for any other activity that isn't yours-it's possible that the same person has used your name and information for other credit transactions without your knowledge (a crime called "identity theft"). The dispute process can take several weeks (even a few months if the inaccuracy is complicated), so you'll want to do this as quickly as possible. You can order your report from any of the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian or Trans Union.