Does a soft credit check affect credit score

They may use this information to understand how reliable you are at borrowing and repaying money to determine whether they'll lend to you. 

Your credit report contains things like:

  • your name

  • your address

  • your borrowing history

  • details of anyone you’re linked to financially

If you’re looking to apply for finance, there are two different types of searches that can be carried out on your credit report – a soft credit check, and a hard credit check.

Soft credit checks happen when you check your own credit report, or when a lender checks to see whether you’re eligible for certain products and interest rates. 

The lender may want a top-level view of your financial history so they can pre-approve any offers, or show you what you could potentially be eligible for.

A soft credit check doesn’t leave a visible footprint on your credit file, but it is recorded. This means no other lenders can see it. A soft credit check won’t impact your credit score, but, you’ll be able to see if anyone has checked your credit history.

If you view your own credit report, this will also come up as a soft credit check. You may find that, in certain industries, employers will want to perform a soft credit check if you’ve recently applied for a job with them. This will depend on the employer.

If you’ve made an application for finance, such as a credit card, loan or mortgage, the lender will do an in-depth check of your credit report.

A hard credit check will look at your financial history so the lender can see your track record of repaying money you've previously borrowed. 

Any negative marks on your credit report, like overdue payments or debt collection, may stay on your credit report for a number of years.

Soft credit checks aren't visible to companies, but hard checks are. This means soft credit checks won’t affect your credit score, whereas hard credit checks could. 

Keep in mind, lenders will be able to check if you’ve been successful for any credit applications.

If you apply for finance a number of times within a short space of time, it could signal to lenders that you may be struggling to manage your finances. 

Through December 31, 2023, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax will offer all U.S. consumers free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com to help you protect your financial health during the sudden and unprecedented hardship caused by COVID-19.

In this article:

  • How Does a Soft Inquiry Work?
  • Can You See Soft Inquiries on Your Credit Report?
  • How Do Soft Inquiries Impact Credit Scores?
  • Should You Worry About Inquiries?

A soft inquiry, sometimes known as a soft credit check or soft credit pull, happens when you or someone you authorize (like a potential employer) checks your credit report. They can also happen when a company such as a credit card issuer or mortgage lender checks your credit to preapprove you for an offer.

Soft inquiries don't impact your credit scores because they aren't attached to a specific application for credit.

How Does a Soft Inquiry Work?

If you submit an application for new credit, such as a loan or credit card, the loan or card issuer will typically request a hard inquiry to check your credit. Hard inquiries will stay on your credit report for two years, but their impact on your credit scores is typically minimal and will only last a few months.

By contrast, a soft inquiry may occur if someone checks your credit report but you didn't submit a new application for credit. Soft inquiries aren't an indicator of greater risk and thus don't impact your credit scores.

For example, a soft inquiry occurs when:

  • You check your own credit
  • One of your current creditors checks your credit
  • You apply for a soft-pull preapproval with a creditor
  • A company checks your credit to see if you qualify for preapproval offers

Some applications can result in either a hard or soft inquiry, including opening a bank account and renting an apartment. In these situations, you could ask the company whether it will use a hard or soft pull to check your credit.

Can You See Soft Inquiries on Your Credit Report?

You can view the soft inquiries on your credit reports. If you want to get copies of your credit report, you can request one free copy from each major credit bureau (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) every 12 months on AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also check your Experian credit report monthly for free on Experian.com.

Keep in mind that your three reports could have different inquiries, as an inquiry is only added to the credit report that was checked. For example, if you check your Experian credit report, the soft inquiry won't be added to your Equifax or TransUnion credit reports.

How Do Soft Inquiries Impact Credit Scores?

Credit scoring models generate your credit score by analyzing the information in your credit report. Soft inquiries don't have any impact on your credit scores.

Hard inquiries may remain in your credit reports for about two years and they can impact your credit scores. But the impact is typically small, and credit scores tend to rebound within a few months if no new negative information gets added to your credit report. Scoring models usually only consider hard inquiries from the previous 12 months when calculating your scores.

Multiple recent hard inquiries can do more damage to your credit scores. However, credit scoring models often combine (or "deduplicate") multiple inquiries from a 14- to 45-day period—depending on the type of credit score—to avoid punishing consumers who are rate shopping.

Should You Worry About Inquiries?

In general, hard inquiries only play a minor role in your score and fear of a hard inquiry shouldn't keep you from applying for credit when you need to open a new account.

Soft inquiries are even less worrisome because you could have dozens, or even hundreds, of soft inquiries in your credit reports—and they still won't impact your credit scores.

Do soft credit checks show up on credit report?

Soft inquiries appear on your credit report when someone runs a credit check for reasons unrelated to lending you money. These events are not associated with greater repayment risk, so they have no effect on your credit scores.

How many points does a soft credit check drop your score?

There are two different types of credit inquiries: hard inquiries, which can have a negative effect on your credit score, and soft inquiries, which don't affect your score at all.

How long does a soft inquiry stay on your credit report?

Soft inquiries will only stay on your credit reports for 12-24 months. And remember: Soft inquiries won't affect your credit scores. Lenders may be concerned if you have too many hard inquiries on your credit report within a short period of time. However, there are some exceptions to this.