A soft credit check, or "soft pull," is a look at your credit that isn't tied to an application for new credit. It doesn't affect your credit score. A hard credit check, or "hard pull," happens when you apply for something and a lender pulls your file to decide. A hard check can lower your score a little for up to a year. If you didn't apply for credit, the check you're wondering about was almost certainly a soft pull.
What's the difference between a soft pull and a hard pull?
"Soft" and "hard" describe the check itself — also called an inquiry or a pull — not the score. They're two different reasons for looking at the same file, and only the hard kind shows up in the math.
| Soft check | Hard check | |
|---|---|---|
| Why it happens | No application. You looked, or a company reviewed you | You applied for credit |
| Effect on your score | None | Usually fewer than five points |
| Shows on your report | Yes, but only on your own copy | Yes, for two years |
| How long it's in your score | Never counted | 12 months (FICO) |
| Typical examples | Checking your own credit, prequalification, account review | Card, mortgage, auto loan, personal loan |
What is a soft credit check?
A soft check is any look at your credit that isn't part of a decision on new credit you asked for. Scoring models don't count them, and that isn't a loophole. Inquiries are in your score as a mild signal about applying for credit, so a check that isn't part of an application for new credit carries no signal at all. FICO puts it plainly: soft inquiries such as viewing your own credit report don't affect your FICO Scores.
That kills the most persistent credit myth going — the idea that checking your own credit hurts your score. It doesn't. Looking at your own score or report is a soft pull, every time, at any frequency, in any app. You could look at it every morning for a year and your score would be exactly where your accounts left it.
Soft checks include
- You looking at your own score or report, in any app or on AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Prequalification and "see if you qualify" tools, which commonly use a soft pull. Being prequalified is not the same as being approved: it says you look like a fit on the data they pulled, not that the loan is yours.
- Prescreened offers, the card and insurance mail you didn't ask for. The FTC says prescreening doesn't hurt your credit score. To stop the mail, opt out for five years at optoutprescreen.com or 1-888-567-8688.
- Account review, where a lender you already have checks in on you. Your card issuer does this regularly.
- Employment screening. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act an employer needs your written consent first, and the check itself doesn't affect your score.
- Insurance quotes, in most cases.
Rental and tenant screening varies the most. Which type of inquiry it triggers depends on the screening company, so ask the landlord or the service before you apply rather than guessing.
What is a hard credit check, and what does it actually cost you?
A hard check happens when you apply for new credit and the lender pulls your file to make a decision: a credit card, a car loan, a mortgage, a personal loan, sometimes a phone plan or a lease. You authorize it as part of applying — but that doesn't mean you'll recognize it later. One application at a dealership can turn into hard pulls from several lenders you never spoke to, and inquiries show up under a bank's legal name rather than the brand you applied to. If a hard inquiry on your report reads like a mystery, that's common, and there's a section below on tracking one down.
The cost is smaller than its reputation. New credit, the category inquiries live in, is about 10% of a FICO Score, tied with credit mix as the smallest of its five factors, and FICO's own guidance is that for most people one additional inquiry takes fewer than five points off. VantageScore puts an inquiry at five to 10 points and says the dip can be made up in as little as three months.
Under 5 points
What one additional hard inquiry costs most people, per FICO. New credit is about 10% of a FICO Score.
How long an inquiry counts matters more than the points it costs. A hard inquiry stays on your report for two years, but FICO only counts it for 12 months, so the effect fades well before the record does. One inquiry is background noise. Six or more is a different signal: FICO has said people with six or more inquiries can be up to eight times more likely to declare bankruptcy than people with none. That's a correlation across millions of files, not a verdict on your next application, and it's the reason a burst of applications reads worse than any single one.
Who's actually allowed to check your credit?
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, anyone pulling your credit needs a permissible purpose. That's not the same as "they need your permission": a company can have a permissible purpose without asking you first. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) lists creditors, government authorities, landlords, employers, and insurance companies among those who can request your report, for purposes like a credit transaction, reviewing or collecting on an account, insurance, or employment.
So a lender you already have doesn't need to ask before reviewing your account, and a card issuer doesn't need to ask before including you in a prescreened mailing. An employer is the clear exception: it needs your written consent before pulling your report. With a new-credit application, you authorize the pull by applying. Obtaining a report under false pretenses carries civil and criminal penalties.
How do you tell which one you're about to get?
Ask, or read the button. The language is fairly consistent:
- "Check your rate," "see if you prequalify," "won't affect your credit score" → soft
- "Submit application," or a disclosure authorizing an inquiry or warning the check may affect your score → almost always hard
A legitimate lender tells you plainly which one it is, usually in the fine print right above the button. If you can't find it and nobody will say, that's a reason to be wary.
What if you're shopping several lenders for the same loan?
Then the inquiries get grouped, and this is the exception worth knowing before you settle for the first rate you're offered. When you're shopping a mortgage, auto loan, or student loan, FICO treats multiple inquiries in the same window as one: 14 days on older versions, 45 days on newer ones. VantageScore uses a 14-day rolling window. Because you can't tell which version a lender pulls, 14 days is the span that holds on all of them. The CFPB says to keep loan shopping inside 14 to 45 days, and that the benefit of shopping will far outweigh any impact on your credit.
Which loans qualify, how the window is counted, and what happens if your search runs long are all in will rate shopping hurt your credit scores.
What if there's a hard inquiry you don't recognize?
Start by checking whether it's yours in a way you'd forgotten. Applications get pulled under a bank's legal name rather than the brand on the card, dealerships often send one application to several lenders, and a joint application shows on both files. If none of that explains it, contact the company listed and ask what purpose they pulled it for.
An inquiry that nobody can account for is worth treating as a possible fraud signal, because someone applying for credit in your name is exactly what it looks like. Two next steps: how to spot identity theft on your credit report walks the rest of the file for related signs, and how to freeze your credit stops new accounts from being opened while you sort it out.
Common questions
Does checking my own credit score lower it?
No. Looking at your own credit is a soft inquiry, and FICO states that soft inquiries such as viewing your own credit report don't affect your FICO Scores. Frequency doesn't change that.
How do I get a hard inquiry removed from my report?
If it came from an application you made, it isn't an error and it will age off on its own after two years. If you didn't authorize it, or nobody can tell you what purpose it was pulled for, dispute it with the credit reporting company showing it — the CFPB says a credit reporting company generally must investigate within 30 days — and treat it as a possible fraud signal.
Do prequalified offers turn into hard inquiries if I accept one?
Usually yes. Prequalification commonly runs on a soft pull, but completing the actual application generally triggers a hard one. Being prequalified is not the same as being approved.
Will a soft pull show up when a lender looks at my report?
No. Soft inquiries appear only on the copy of your report that you see, so a lender reviewing your file doesn't know how often you've checked your own credit.
How many hard inquiries is too many?
There's no official cutoff, and a single inquiry barely registers. What reads badly is a burst of unrelated applications — cards, loans, and financing all in a short stretch. Rate shopping is the exception: inquiries for the same loan made inside the shopping window get grouped and scored as one, so six auto-loan quotes in two weeks don't count as six inquiries.
Sources: myFICO, "Do Credit Inquiries Lower Your FICO Score?" and "How to Rate Shop and Minimize the Impact to Your FICO Scores" — soft inquiries don't affect FICO Scores; fewer than five points per additional inquiry; two years on the report and 12 months in the score; the six-or-more-inquiries bankruptcy correlation; the 14-day and 45-day rate-shopping windows. myFICO, "What's in my FICO Scores?" — new credit and credit mix each about 10%. CFPB, "Who can request to see my credit report?" — permissible purposes and the employer written-consent requirement. CFPB, "How will shopping for an auto loan affect my credit?" — the 14-to-45-day guidance and "the benefit of shopping will far outweigh any impact on your credit." CFPB, "How do I dispute an error on my credit report?" — dispute with the credit reporting company, which generally must investigate within 30 days. VantageScore consumer FAQs and "Shop Around to Find the Best Offer" — the 14-day rolling window and the five-to-10-point, roughly three-month recovery range. FTC, "What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance" — prescreening doesn't hurt your score, plus the opt-out site and phone number. Accessed 2026-08-07.
This article is for general information, not financial or legal advice. Which inquiry type a given company runs can vary by company and product.
