Every time your credit report is accessed, it is recorded as either a soft or a hard inquiry. The type of inquiry determines whether it affects your FICO® Score and who can see it. Understanding the difference can help you protect your score and make more informed decisions when applying for loans, credit cards, or other financial products.
What Is a Credit Check?
Your credit report summarizes your credit history, including your personal details, accounts, public records, and previous credit inquiries. When your report is accessed, it is called a credit check, credit pull, or inquiry. Credit checks remain on your report for up to two years. There are two types: soft and hard. Knowing which type affects your score gives you more control over your credit health.
Soft Credit Checks
Soft pulls occur when your credit is accessed without a final lending or financial determination being made, such as when you are pre-qualified or pre-approved for an offer.
Soft inquiries:
- Do not require your permission
- Are visible only to you
- Do not affect your credit score
- May be performed as part of a background check for employment
- May be performed by lenders or insurance companies to pre-qualify or pre-approve you for offers
If you decide to pursue an offer, the lender will typically need additional information to make a final determination and may request a hard pull of your credit at that point.
Hard Credit Checks
Hard pulls are performed when a lender is making a final lending or financial determination, such as when you apply for a mortgage, auto loan or credit card.
Hard inquiries:
- Require your written permission
- Are visible to anyone who checks your credit
- Can lower your FICO® Score by up to five points per inquiry
- May be performed when you apply for a loan, line of credit or credit card
- May be performed instead of a soft check when you apply to rent a home or apartment
Hard pulls stop affecting your FICO® Score after one year and are removed from your report entirely after two years.
A note on rate shopping: If you are shopping for a mortgage or auto loan and submit multiple applications within a short window, the major credit bureaus generally treat those as a single inquiry rather than separate hard pulls. The window is typically 14 to 45 days depending on the scoring model used. Rate shopping within that window will not multiply the impact on your score.
Managing Your Credit
Understanding how credit inquiries work is one piece of a healthy credit strategy. To learn more about managing your score, read our article on How to Manage Your Credit Score. You can also track your accounts and monitor activity anytime through online banking or the FFCU mobile app.
Ready to put your credit to work? Explore our personal loans, vehicle loans, and credit cards, or call us at 800.231.1626 with any questions.
