What is a Soft Credit Inquiry or “Soft Credit Pull”?
Soft credit inquiries/pulls have no impact on your credit score. If there are soft inquiries listed on your report, keep in mind that they’re only visible to you - lenders won’t be able to see these inquiries, so they’ll have no influence on your perceived creditworthiness from their point of view.
There are two types of soft credit checks:
- Marketing pre-screen credit checks: The result of the marketing pre-screen credit checks companies use to pre-approve you for their products. Example: Pre-approval letters for loans or credit cards you receive in the mail
- Consumer-initiated inquiries: Example: Checking your credit score through Equifax, Experian, or Transunion or Checking your rates for personal loans.
Common Soft Credit Inquiry triggers may include:
- Employment verifications
- Background checks
- Using a third party to check your credit history/report
- Promotional mail-in offers
- Insurance quotes
What is a Hard Credit Inquiry or “Hard Credit Pull”?
Hard credit inquiries/pulls occur when you apply for a line of credit or loan and when a lender pulls your credit report to determine if you qualify for said line of credit or loan.
Reminder! Checking your rates and viewing loan offers will only result in a soft credit inquiry – your credit score will not be affected. If you choose to accept an offer and are successfully funded, however, a hard inquiry will occur once funds are delivered to your account.
Common Hard Credit Inquiry triggers may include:
- Applying for a mortgage
- Applying for a credit card
- Applying for a loan (student, business, personal, or auto)
How will a hard inquiry affect your credit score?
- While a single hard inquiry may only decrease your credit score a few points (at the most), having multiple hard inquiries within a short period of time could have a significant impact on your score.