Hard inquiries are also referred to as hard pulls and occur every time a creditor checks your credit with the goal of providing you a loan or charge card. A gentle question, or gentle pull, is where a provider is simply searching for advice with no credit. A tough question can impact your credit rating and stay in your credit report for two decades.

However, what exactly does that means? Because challenging inquiries can possibly shred your credit scores, they can cause you to end up paying higher rates of interest on loans. On big loans, such as those for a car or house, a score fall of even a couple points can mean that you wind up paying more money over the life span of their loan.

What’s a Credit Inquiry?

Credit inquiries occur when a company accesses your credit report. The inquiries entail the date, name of the business that asked for the information and the sort of query that was made.

Before we get into the particulars of the sorts of inquiries and the way they operate, it is very important to put them into perspective. Unless you’ve been applying for credit excessively, the inquiries should not substantially affect your credit ratings.

Hard inquiries can also show lenders where else you applied for credit. They can show what kind of loan you applied for, such as a car loan, mortgage, student loan or charge card.

Be aware that inquiries can lower your credit rating so be careful about applying for credit. Also, be careful about how frequently you apply for credit. Several inquiries on your credit report may reduce your credit score by at least ten points per each query.

However, there are instances in which the inquires may not have much of an impact on your credit rating. This is when you have multiple such credit queries for the same type of loan. For example, they are specifically being made for an auto loan.

Hard Inquiries vs. Soft Inquiries

Soft inquiries can happen without your knowledge. If you come across an inquiry on your credit report that you are unsure about, you should consult each of the three credit bureaus.

Understand potential employers or even insurers can make inquiries to assess your credit history. However, they have traditionally not been counted against your credit score. Checking your score will not impact your score or your own credit reports.

Checking your own credit rating is also a soft credit question. On that same note, your existing lenders can review your accounts from time to time. These inquiries will not appear when creditors ask your scores or reports. Soft credit question provides the same information as other inquiries. This includes your credit and payment history, debt management, and derogatory marks.

Remember, soft credit queries, otherwise called soft pulls, do not impact your credit ratings.

And one last thing, you know how you receive pre-approved credit card offers? Don’t worry about the credit card company sending your offer affecting your credit score. 

Soft inquiries can happen without your knowledge. If you come across an inquiry on your credit report that you are unsure about, you should consult each of the three credit bureaus.