An enquiry appears on your credit report when a company checks your credit information.
What is a soft enquiry?
A soft enquiry can happen when a company, such as a lender or credit card provider, checks your credit information to get an overview of your financial situation. This might happen before pre-approving you for a product, or when you check your own credit report.
Soft enquiries don’t affect your credit score.
What is a hard enquiry?
A hard enquiry usually happens when you apply for credit, such as a loan, credit card, mortgage, store account, or other credit account. The credit provider checks your credit report to help decide whether to accept your application.
How do hard enquiries affect your score?
Hard enquiries can affect your credit score, especially if you make several credit applications in a short period of time. This can suggest that you rely heavily on credit, which may affect your chances of being accepted for new credit.
Hard enquiries may stay on your credit report for 12 months.