Credit glossary
Soft inquiry
A credit check that doesn't affect your scores, such as checking your own credit, a prescreened offer or an existing lender's account review.
Soft inquiries appear on the copy of your report you pull for yourself, often in a separate section, but other lenders don't see them and they never affect scores. The CFPB says checking your own report or score doesn't hurt it. Your existing card issuers use soft pulls for periodic account reviews, and a limit increase the issuer starts on its own usually comes from one.
Some applications use soft checks too. Certain limit-increase requests and some apartment screenings use soft pulls, but it depends on the company, so ask before you submit, since a hard pull can't be undone. A soft inquiry from a company you don't recognize is usually marketing or an account review rather than fraud.
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.
- Does checking your own credit lower your score? No, and here's whyChecking your own report or score is a soft inquiry and never lowers it. What does count, which checks are hard pulls, and how often to look.
- Does asking for a credit limit increase cause a hard pull?Automatic limit increases use soft account reviews. Ones you request can go either way. Find out first, then run the utilization math before you ask.
Sources
- Does checking my credit report hurt my credit score?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Credit Checks: What are credit inquiries and how do they affect your FICO Score?, myFICO
- Understanding Hard Inquiries on Your Credit Report, Equifax
This is education, not legal or financial advice. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.