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.
A soft inquiry does not affect your credit score in any way. When a lender performs a soft inquiry on your credit file, the inquiry might appear on your credit report but it won't impact your credit score.
Soft inquiries do not affect credit scores and are not visible to potential lenders that may review your credit reports. They are visible to you and will stay on your credit reports for 12 to 24 months, depending on the type. The other type of inquiry is a “hard” inquiry.
How many points does your score go down for an inquiry? FICO says for most people, it's about five points for a so-called "hard inquiry." VantageScore could drop up to 10 points, recoverable in about three months.
Credit scores can drop due to a variety of reasons, including late or missed payments, changes to your credit utilization rate, a change in your credit mix, closing older accounts (which may shorten your length of credit history overall), or applying for new credit accounts.
For a score with a range between 300 and 850, a credit score of 700 or above is generally considered good. A score of 800 or above on the same range is considered to be excellent. Most consumers have credit scores that fall between 600 and 750. In 2022, the average FICO® Score☉ in the U.S. reached 714.
Each hard inquiry can cause your credit score to drop by a few points. There's no such thing as “too many” hard inquiries, but multiple credit inquiries within a short window of time can suggest that you might be a risky borrower.
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.
A soft credit check is an inquiry into your credit report, initiated either by you or a company. A soft inquiry can occur even if you didn't apply for credit. It is primarily used to screen for preapproval offers or for a background check. Credit scores are not impacted by soft credit checks.
To sum things up, soft inquiries have no effect on your credit score. They happen all the time without your knowledge, so don't worry about them.
Soft pulls can be as accurate as a hard credit pull and provide much of the same information. However, they won't affect your credit score like a hard pull would. Can lenders see soft pulls? Lenders cannot see a soft pull on your credit report -- only you can.
While you may be able to see soft inquiries on your credit report, lenders can't. Further, they have no effect on your credit score. For that reason, you can check your credit as often as you want using monitoring services without worrying about it tanking your score.
Yes, even applying for new credit can cause a 100-point credit score drop. However, it would have to be a severe case. In the FICOscoring model, each hard inquiry — when a creditor checks your credit report before approving or denying credit — can cost you up to five points on your credit score.
If you find an unauthorized or inaccurate hard inquiry, you can file a dispute letter and request that the bureau remove it from your report. The consumer credit bureaus must investigate dispute requests unless they determine your dispute is frivolous.
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.
It's also a good idea to wait at least 90 days between new credit card applications —and it's even better if you can wait a full six months.
While older models of credit scores used to go as high as 900, you can no longer achieve a 900 credit score. The highest score you can receive today is 850. Anything above 800 is considered an excellent credit score.
If you're wondering whether you can buy a house with your “good” credit score of 700, you likely can. But your total loan costs with a 700 score as opposed to, say, 760 are significantly different. Let's use a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan for $300,000 as an example.
As someone with a 650 credit score, you are firmly in the “fair” territory of credit. You can usually qualify for financial products like a mortgage or car loan, but you will likely pay higher interest rates than someone with a better credit score. The "good" credit range starts at 690.
The minimum credit score needed for most mortgages is typically around 620. However, government-backed mortgages like Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans typically have lower credit requirements than conventional fixed-rate loans and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).
There is no set maximum amount that your credit score can increase by in one month. It all depends on your unique situation and the specific actions you're taking to improve your credit. Realistically, you probably won't see your credit score increase by more than 10 points in a month.
The lowest score you can get with either model is 300, though past scoring models have gone lower (and aren't used so much today). According to FICO, an estimated 11.1% of Americans have a FICO score ranging between 300 and 549 as of 2019.
A soft credit check may be visible on your credit report, but won't affect your credit score, or your ability to get credit in future, so there's no need to worry about how often they're completed.