What is a Soft Pull? A Guide to Soft Credit Inquiries and How to Use Them to Your Advantage

Improving your credit score is a delicate dance. On one hand, you need to work down your debt. On the other, you need a robust credit history.

To make matters worse, taking out new credit dings your credit score (albeit not by much) when lenders run a hard credit check. This experience might give you some anxiety about pursuing new lines of credit or even checking your score on your own.

Fortunately, not all credit checks are created equal. Only applications for new loans or lines of credit will negatively affect your credit score. These credit checks are known as hard inquiries.

When you check your own credit score, you perform a soft credit pull, which does not affect your credit score. Soft pulls occur whenever someone checks your credit without your filing a new credit application. That someone could be a future employer, a current creditor, or another authorized party.

Soft credit pulls are credit inquiries that do not affect your credit score and are requested by you or an authorized third party.

As you work to improve your credit score, you need to know what will actually hurt your financial future and what won’t. I’ll explain the different types of credit pulls and how you can use soft pulls to your advantage. 

Soft pulls can occur for a variety of reasons. You may want to check your credit to better understand your financial situation. An employer may want to know your financial reliability.

While soft pulls are fairly straightforward in reality, you should know what goes into them and what differentiates them from hard pulls. That way, you’ll feel confident when you authorize a soft pull and informed when you authorize a hard pull.

The Process of a Soft Inquiry

Maybe you’re undergoing a background check for a new job or level of clearance. Perhaps your current creditor is considering increasing your credit limit. A soft pull happens when a company or individual checks your credit for informational purposes without formal application requirements. 

You can also perform a soft credit inquiry on yourself. All Americans are legally entitled to one free credit report every week from each of the three credit bureaus, which you can request at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Checking your credit is a great way to make sure you’re on track for your goals and to notice if any inconsistencies pop up. If someone has stolen your financial identity, you may find out about it on your credit reports. Staying informed is an important part of prioritizing your finances.

Soft Inquiries vs. Hard Inquiries

I like to think of a soft pull as less formal than a hard pull, which comes from an official application. With a soft pull, you or your authorized party is trying to get the big picture of your financial history. But with a hard pull, that information is being used to directly decide whether you qualify for credit.

Perhaps most importantly, a soft pull does not impact your credit score, whereas a hard pull can lower your score slightly. This is because applying for credit suggests incoming debt and potential financial strain.

But the impact of hard inquiries on your score is small and should be mostly gone in a few months. While you shouldn’t apply for credit casually, don’t let the fear of credit repercussions prevent you from applying for anything. Using your credit will help you build up your credit history, which is more important overall.

Soft credit pulls happen all the time. You may not even realize that soft credit checks are occurring when they are. They’re a great way for anyone to get a sense of your financial responsibility without affecting your credit score or requiring you to formally apply for credit.

Pre-Approved Credit Card Offers

Credit card companies often use soft pulls to evaluate your eligibility for pre-approved offers.

These companies have relationships with the credit bureaus, which allow them to get third-party information about potential borrowers’ credit information. This helps them determine borrowers who would likely be approved for credit should they formally apply.

Additionally, credit card companies you already borrow from have access to your credit information through your existing relationship with them. If you have a bank account or less competitive credit card with the company, you may receive pre-approval offers for their higher-tier cards.

Personal Credit Checks

Checking your own credit score or report creates a soft pull, ensuring no impact on your credit rating. Personal credit checks are likely the most common reason for you to undergo a soft credit pull.

Many credit card companies will give you monthly access to your credit score through them. I prefer this method of checking my credit score, as it saves me time and allows me to look at my score and my credit card balance in one place. 

No matter how you check your credit score, you should monitor for sudden drops and new lines of credit. If something looks wrong, report it to all three credit bureaus. 

Employment and Landlord Background Checks

Employers may use soft pulls as part of their hiring process to assess your financial responsibility. This can help them determine whether you can be trusted with sensitive company information and finances. While it may feel like an invasion of privacy, this information is important, especially for jobs that require financial trust.

Employers may pull a soft credit check to gauge your financial responsibility. Landlords will also generally run a background check on you, which will involve looking at your credit history.

Renting a home requires financial responsibility and the trust that you’ll pay your rent consistently, making it important for landlords to know your financial situation. But be warned: landlords will sometimes run a hard inquiry; it just depends on what service they’re using.

If you’re worried about how this will affect your credit score, try to put in all rental applications within a few days, so they’re counted as one hard check.

You may feel like it’s unfair that your credit score is penalized for credit applications. Getting a worse score for trying to use your credit — especially when you’re also penalized for not using your credit — feels like a double-edged sword. 

But at the very least, you aren’t penalized for wanting to be informed about your credit score. It’s impossible to make smart decisions about your credit and when to use it without knowing all the facts. 

No Impact on Credit Score

Once again, I hope this is crystal clear: Soft pulls are entirely non-intrusive and do not lower or affect your credit score. Check your credit score as much as you want; it won’t hurt your score.

Like most of my finances, I like to check my credit score regularly to make sure there are no surprises. Credit scores typically update about once a month, so I’ll see any changes that have come up for my current monthly cycle.

When a disputed bill hit my credit — dinging my score about 150 points — I was able to quickly file a dispute with each of the credit bureaus and get the hit off of my credit score. The situation was stressful, but I was so thankful that I saw my score as soon as it changed.

No Limits on Soft Pulls

Since they don’t affect your score, there is no limit to the number of soft pulls that can happen to your reports. You can check your score constantly, and it won’t affect your reports. No matter how many background checks you go through, there’s no need to worry about the credit impact.

“There is no limit to the number of soft pulls that can happen to your reports. You can check your score constantly, and it won’t affect your reports.”

This is important to know when you’re considering applying for a new loan or line of credit. If there’s a way to apply for pre-approval or do a soft pull before filing a credit application, you should do it. You’ll have a sense of if you qualify without having to harm your credit in the process.

Credit Reporting Visibility

Although they don’t affect your score, soft pulls may be visible to you on your credit report. You may be able to tell if a third party has seen your credit history.

Lenders, however, won’t see soft pulls. This is important for the same reason that credit applications hurt your credit score. Many credit checks can indicate that you’re looking for credit, but with soft pulls, lenders won’t know that information.

Soft pulls can give you a lot of information, both about your financial reality and what you may do with your credit. If you’re unsure what loans and interest rates you can secure, soft credit inquiries are a great way to find out without further harming your credit.

Consider soft pulls the groundwork for any significant loans you want to take out.

Prequalify for Loans

Many lenders perform soft pulls during the prequalification process to give you loan options without harming your credit. You can seek this out when applying for credit cards, car loans, and even mortgages. Prequalifying is a great first step toward securing a loan, so you learn what you can expect from lenders.

“Prequalifying is a great first step toward securing a loan, so you learn what you can expect from lenders.”

Still, you should be aware that prequalifying is not the same as receiving preapproval, especially for mortgage rates. Prequalifying gauges your approval odds and terms, but it is not as official as preapproval, which usually involves a hard credit check.

Rate Shopping for Loans

Soft pulls allow you to compare loan options across multiple lenders without affecting your credit. You may receive multiple prequalification offers from credit card companies. With this information, you can compare APR, cashback deals (my favorite way to beat inflation), and credit offers.

While you aren’t guaranteed to receive the same prequalification terms after you’re formally approved, prequalification gives you a good sense of what you can expect from each lender. This is especially important when applying for a mortgage, where a fraction of a percent in your interest rate can cost tens of thousands of dollars over 30 years.

A Hard Pull is Required for Final Loan Approval

Soft pulls are a great tool, but they can’t protect you from filing a formal application when you actually take out credit. Final loan approval usually requires a hard pull, but the initial soft inquiry allows you to explore offers without risk. 

While you want to do as much frontend work as possible to prevent superfluous hard pulls from occurring, try not to be too afraid of hard credit pulls. They won’t affect your credit much in the long run, and the benefits of having an extensive credit history — given that you pay your debts on time — far outweigh the cons.

When it comes to your finances, knowledge is power. You need to know not only how financial institutions function but also the numbers behind your own finances and the financial services you can secure.

Sometimes, it feels like you’re penalized for trying to understand your own financial prospects. Getting denied for a credit card — and then having that application hurt your credit even more — is an awful feeling. 

That’s why you should take advantage of soft credit inquiries as much as possible. Learn about your credit and what credit you can receive without letting it harm your credit score.

While you’re at it, try to keep an eye on all your financial accounts. The more you know, the better your financial choices can be going forward.