Soft inquiry

What It Means

A soft inquiry is a look at your credit reportCredit reportA record of how you've borrowed and repaid, kept by credit bureaus and sold to lenders, landlords, insurers and others who decide whether to deal with you. See more that isn't part of an application for new credit. CheckingChecking accountA bank or credit union account for everyday money going in and out, used by debit card, checks, transfers and direct deposit. See more your own report, a company screening you for a preapproved offer, and some employer background checks all create one. Experian says soft inquiries don't affect your credit scoresCredit scoreA three-digit number calculated from your credit report that lenders use to judge how likely you are to repay; common models run from 300 to 850. See more and appear only on the copy of the report you pull yourself, so lenders, employers and others reading your report don't see them.

How People Say It

• "Checking your own score is just a soft pull."
• "They said prequalifying won't touch my credit."
• "Why are there so many companies on my inquiry list?"

The Breakdown

A short example. Ana opens her Experian report for the first time and finds a long list of company names under inquiries: card issuers, an insurer, her own bank. She panics, thinking each one cost her points, and considers disputing them all.

Where it goes wrong. Most of those names are soft inquiries, many from preapproved offers, and Experian says soft inquiries don't affect her scores and don't show to lenders. Only the hard inquiriesHard inquiryA check of your credit report by a lender after you apply for credit; it shows on your report for up to two years and can lower some scores a little. See more, from applications, can count toward a score, and she only made one application this year.

What to watch for

• On your own copy of a report, the hard inquiries are the ones lenders see, so read those first.
• Prequalification and card preapproval usually use a soft inquiry, according to Experian, while the full application that follows usually uses a hard one.
• An unfamiliar hard inquiry deserves a closer look, since it can mean somebody applied for credit in your name.

Good to Know

Experian says soft inquiries are shown only on reports you request yourself, not on reports that creditors, employers and others pull. Checking your own credit as often as you like, including the free weekly reports at AnnualCreditReport.com, doesn't lower your scores.

Related Terms and Categories

• Hard inquiry

  A check of your credit report by a lender after you apply for credit; it shows on your report for up to two years and can lower some scores a little.

• Credit report

  A record of how you've borrowed and repaid, kept by credit bureaus and sold to lenders, landlords, insurers and others who decide whether to deal with you.

• Credit score

  A three-digit number calculated from your credit report that lenders use to judge how likely you are to repay; common models run from 300 to 850.

• Credit monitoring

  A service that watches your credit reports and alerts you to changes, such as a new account or inquiry; it warns you after the fact and doesn't prevent fraud.

• Credit bureau

  A company that collects information about how people use credit and sells it as credit reports; Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are the three nationwide ones.

Debt and credit