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In a nutshell
A soft credit inquiry is when you or another person or company checks your credit report. Lenders often use a soft inquiry to prequalify you for a loan before you submit a full application involving a hard credit pull.
- Since it won’t have any impact on your credit score, a soft inquiry is harmless.
- Soft credit inquiries are often required for prequalified offers, employment checks, personal credit checks, loan preapprovals and utility requests.
- No one but you can see a soft inquiry, so it won’t impact your ability to get credit cards or loans.
How a soft credit inquiry works
Also known as a “soft pull,” a soft credit inquiry is when you or another person or company checks your credit score. Lenders often use a soft credit inquiry to check whether you prequalify for a loan before you fill out a full application, and will often give you a conditional offer based on the soft inquiry results. This helps you to compare financial products and loan terms so you can make an informed decision.
The good news is that soft credit inquiries have no impact on your credit score. Even if you have hundreds of soft pulls on your credit report, your credit won’t take a negative hit.
Soft inquiry vs. hard inquiry
A hard inquiry is done when you apply for financing and give the creditor permission to check your credit. If you formally apply for a loan or credit card, the creditor performs a hard inquiry to determine your creditworthiness and ability to repay.
While soft pulls won’t affect your credit in any way, hard inquiries can temporarily lower your credit score by a few points. However, this minor drop in your score will disappear after a few months if you continue to make repayments on time.
Types of soft credit pulls
Soft credit inquiries are used to assess your credit score for a variety of purposes, including:
Prequalified offers
A company might pull your credit score to find out whether you qualify for a promotional offer. This may be a 0% APR credit card, a low-interest auto loan or other financial products.
Employment checks
If you apply for a new job, a prospective employer might perform a soft pull during the employment screening process. This helps employers assess if you’re responsible with money.
Personal credit checks
Every now and then, you might want to check your own credit score. Fortunately, you won’t get penalized for doing so. A personal credit check is considered a soft inquiry and won’t hurt your credit score.
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Loan preapprovals
Some lenders will prequalify you for a loan so you can get personalized interest rate offers and terms before you formally apply. Since they’ll perform a soft inquiry, you’ll be able to compare offers without any impact on your credit.
Utility requests
If you move to a new place and set up utilities, your utility company may use a soft inquiry to check your credit. Your credit score will inform them of your risk level and how likely you are to pay your bills.
Can you see soft inquiries on your credit report?
Since soft inquiries aren’t tied to specific applications for new credit, they’ll be visible to you alone. You can find them under the “soft inquiries” or “inquiries that don’t affect your credit rating” subheading on your credit report. Other people and companies won’t be able to see any soft inquiries when they check your credit report.
How do soft inquiries impact credit scores?
Soft inquiries won’t help or hurt your credit score. While they may appear on your report when you check it, they don’t affect your credit score at all. Hard pulls, on the other hand, can lower your credit score, especially if you make multiple inquiries for different types of credit within a short period.
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Soft inquiries won’t lower your credit score. However, it’s important to know what they are and how they may benefit your bigger financial picture. Before you apply for a loan or credit card, consider getting prequalified with a soft credit inquiry to compare offers and find the best product for your needs.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How long do soft inquiries stay on your credit report?
Just like hard inquiries, soft inquiries remain on your credit report for up to two years. Note that even though they’ll stay on your report for a while, soft pulls won’t have any impact on your credit score.
Who can see soft inquiries on your credit report?
Soft inquiries are visible only to you. This means that any person or business that looks at your credit report won’t be able to see soft pulls.
Should I remove soft inquiries?
Since soft inquiries don’t affect your credit, there’s no reason to remove them. Nobody else will know about them when you apply for new credit.
AP Buyline’s content is created independently of The Associated Press newsroom. Our evaluations and opinions are not influenced by our advertising relationships, but we might earn commissions from our partners’ links in this content. Learn more about our policies and terms here.