If you were a little worried to see the word “inquiry” on your report, rest assured that is nothing that would damage your credit standing in any way. However, everyone is interested in finding out what hard vs soft inquiries mean.
In both cases, inquiries do become a part of your credit report. Although they might not stay there for a long time. This is normally a check carried out on your report by a loan lender, credit card company, bank, potential employer, etc.
There are two types of inquiries. In this article, we would explore what these two types mean and if they have an impact on your credit score.
What Are Hard Inquiries?
Hard inquiries are carried out when you apply for a credit card or a loan. This is done with your permission and involves a complete check of your credit report by the company.
Hard inquiries stay on your report for more than 2 years. They also have an impact on the credit score which we will talk about in the section below.
Credit card companies often suggest that you do not apply for multiple cards over a small period of time. If you are looking for a best mail offer then make sure Equian respond online to choose for. This is because every application would incur an inquiry which can leave your score in a pretty bad shape.
What Are Soft Inquiries?
A soft inquiry is when you check your credit report yourself or when a bank checks if for sending out pre-approved mail offers. Potential employers also carry out soft inquiries which do not affect your credit score in any way.
Soft inquiries also stay on your report for the same period of time but because they do not have any impact on the score, there is no need to worry about multiple soft inquiries showing up.
How Inquiries Affect Your Credit Score?
We have mentioned before that soft inquiries do not affect your credit score in any way. However, hard inquiries do have an impact and should try to avoid it as much as possible.
Moreover, if lenders see a number of hard inquiries on your report over a short period of time, they might not be comfortable doing business with you. This indicates that you have opened multiple accounts and maybe you are having issues maintaining timely payments and bills.
Although the impact of hard inquiry is temporary, it does exist and can evidently pull down your credit score.
Wrap Up
Undoubtedly, inquiries affect your overall score but they are only a single factor in a pool of many. In contrast, missed payments or crossing credit limits have a greater negative impact on the score than a hard inquiry.
Nonetheless, you should keep a check on your credit report to be aware of the inquiries being carried out. This also improves the chances of finding out an error that had occurred on the report and disputing it on time so it does not pull down your score.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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