Soft inquiries are the counterpart to hard inquiries, and the distinction is simple: a soft inquiry is a look at your credit that was not part of a decision you applied for.
What causes one
- Checking your own credit report or score
- Pre-qualification and pre-approval offers
- Existing creditors periodically reviewing your accounts
- Employers running a background check, where permitted and with your consent
- Insurance companies reviewing credit-based insurance scores where permitted
- Landlords screening applicants, in some cases
The common thread is that none of them are you applying for new credit.
The effect on your score
None. Soft inquiries are not a scoring factor in any model in general use. You can check your credit daily for a year with no effect whatsoever.
The idea that checking your own credit lowers your score is one of the most persistent myths in personal finance, and it discourages people from doing something that is entirely free and genuinely useful.
Hard and soft, side by side
| Hard inquiry | Soft inquiry | |
|---|---|---|
| Requires your authorization | Yes | Not always |
| Affects your score | Yes, a small amount | No |
| Visible to lenders | Yes | No |
| Stays on report | Two years | Typically about two years, visible only to you |
| Typical cause | Applying for credit | Checking credit, pre-qualification, account review |
Pre-qualification
This is the practical value of soft inquiries. Most card issuers offer a pre-qualification tool that checks your credit with a soft inquiry and tells you which of their products you are likely to be approved for.
It is not a guarantee — the formal application still generates a hard inquiry and a fresh decision — but it filters out applications that were never going to succeed. Using it before applying is free and there is no reason not to.
Prescreened offers
The credit card offers that arrive in the mail come from prescreening: an issuer asks a bureau for a list of consumers meeting its criteria, using a soft inquiry.
If you would rather not receive them, the credit bureaus operate a federally mandated opt-out service at OptOutPrescreen.com, which lets you opt out for five years or permanently. Doing so has no effect on your credit score.
