Credit glossary
Credit inquiry
A record that someone pulled your credit report, logged as either a hard inquiry or a soft inquiry depending on the reason.
A hard inquiry comes from an application for credit and can lower FICO Scores slightly; FICO says one more inquiry takes less than five points for most people. A soft inquiry comes from checking your own credit, from prescreened offers, or from an existing lender reviewing your account. Soft inquiries never affect scores, and other lenders can't see them.
Hard inquiries stay on reports for up to two years, but FICO Scores consider only those from the last 12 months. When you shop for a mortgage, auto or student loan, FICO groups inquiries made within a short window into one. Any company pulling your report needs a permissible purpose under the FCRA, so an inquiry you never authorized is worth questioning.
Guides that go deeper
- Hard vs. soft inquiries: which credit checks count against youA hard inquiry comes from a credit application and can trim your score. A soft one never does. A table of the common checks, gray zones included.
- How long hard inquiries stay on your report and keep countingHard inquiries can sit on your credit report for two years, but FICO only scores them for one. A dated example shows when each clock runs out.
Sources
- Credit Checks: What are credit inquiries and how do they affect your FICO Score?, myFICO
- Understanding Hard Inquiries on Your Credit Report, Equifax
- 15 U.S.C. 1681b, Permissible purposes of consumer reports, Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
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