There are two types of credit score inquiries lenders and others (like yourself or your landlord) can make on your credit score: a "hard inquiry" and a "soft inquiry." The difference between the two is that a soft inquiry won't affect your score, but a hard inquiry can shave off some points.
Like hard inquiries, soft inquiries remain on your credit reports for two years. However, because they're not related to an application for credit or a loan decision, they aren't associated with greater repayment risk and, therefore, have no effect on your credit score.
Soft inquiries do not affect your credit score. Hard inquiries can lower your credit score, though it is one of the less influential credit score factors. The impact of hard inquiries on your credit score tends to lessen over time.
A soft credit inquiry does not impact your credit score or require your permission. It is typically done for informational purposes and not for lending decisions.
A soft inquiry happens whenever you check your credit report, or when a lender checks your credit report without your knowledge or permission. Soft inquiries have no effect on your credit score. Lenders can't even see how many soft inquiries have been made on your credit report.
Unlike a hard credit pull, a soft inquiry does not negatively affect a person's credit score and does not activate trigger leads, causing an onslaught of calls to the consumer in an attempt to vie for their business.
A soft pull on your credit shows basic personal information, a summary of your credit history, recent inquiries, any public records related to your credit, and sometimes a summary of your credit scores. It does not reveal detailed account-specific information and doesn't affect your credit score.
Late or missed payments hurt your score. Amounts Owed or Credit Utilization reveals how deeply in debt you are and contributes to determining if you can handle what you owe. If you have high outstanding balances or are nearly "maxed out" on your credit cards, your credit score will be negatively affected.
A hard inquiry typically only causes credit scores to drop by about five points, according to FICO.
Unlike hard inquiries, soft inquiries won't affect your credit scores. (They may or may not be recorded in your credit reports, depending on the credit bureau.) Since soft inquiries aren't connected to a specific application for new credit, they're only visible to you when you view your credit reports.
Late or missed payments can cause your credit score to decline. The impact can vary depending on your credit score — the higher your score, the more likely you are to see a steep drop.
Credit Karma allows you to check your credit report and score for free, without affecting your score. The service doesn't hurt your credit score because it counts as a self-initiated inquiry, which is a soft credit inquiry.
A 700 credit score is considered a good score on the most common credit score range, which runs from 300 to 850. How does your score compare with others? You're within the good credit score range, which runs from 690 to 719.
Soft inquiries typically stay on your credit report for up to two years but have no impact on your credit score. They record who has reviewed your credit for non-lending purposes and are only visible to you.
Using more of your credit card balance than usual — even if you pay on time — can reduce your score until a new, lower balance is reported the following month. Closed accounts and lower credit limits can also result in lower scores even if your payment behavior has not changed.
Soft credit inquiries don't affect your credit score because you're not actually applying for credit, and these types of inquiries don't necessarily require your permission. These can occur when you request a copy of your credit report or check your credit score.
Soft inquiries don't have any impact on your credit scores. Hard inquiries may remain in your credit reports for about two years and they can impact your credit scores.
In many cases, a hard credit inquiry will only drop your score by about five points — and soft credit inquiries won't affect your score at all.
For a score with a range of 300 to 850, a credit score of 670 to 739 is considered good. Credit scores of 740 and above are very good while 800 and higher are excellent.
A soft credit pull can show information such as credit accounts, late payments, collection activity and hard credit inquiries. Only you can see what soft credit inquiries have been run on your credit report.
Since hard inquiries affect your credit score and what is found may even affect approval, you might be wondering: How many inquiries is too many? The answer differs from lender to lender, but most consider six total inquiries on a report at one time to be too many to gain approval for an additional credit card or loan.
If you'd like to limit soft inquiries, you can use the website OptOutPrescreen.com to opt out of the prescreening process that companies use to send you offers for items like credit cards, mortgage refinancing and insurance.