You ever went to test drive or buy a car, applied for a loan or credit card or even bought a new cell phone & then noticed your credit score went down?
This is likely because when you signed or verbally agreed to the the terms, you agreed to let the company run your credit to see more information about you and your creditworthiness.
When they pulled your credit, it resulted in you getting what's called a "hard inquiry".
You probably want to know what else triggers a soft or hard credit inquiry so you can prevent your score from going down more... 🤔
👉🏾 You will see one of two types of inquiries show up on your credit report when someone pulls your credit and does what's called a "credit check".
📝 The two types are a “hard pull” (this affects your credit score), and a “soft pull” (this does not affect your score)
📝 Whenever you give a lender permission to look at your credit reports and scores, it will likely trigger a hard inquiry.
It is said that hard inquires impact your credit scores because it is an indication that you’re looking for new credit and lenders usually think customers who are looking for new credit are more risky than customers who aren't looking for new credit.
👉🏾 On the flip side, a soft inquiry usually will happen when you pull your own credit or a creditor pulls your credit in order to do a pre-approval or account review.
📝 Soft inquiries will not impact your score because they do not signify that you’re looking for new credit.
🚨 A few actions that can trigger a hard inquiry:
Getting a new cell phone. Your credit report will likely be checked by cell phone companies before they approve you for a contract with them. That way they can see how risky it will be for them to do business with you.
📝 Lenders want to know that you will pay your cell phone bill consistently and on time otherwise they will deny you (so your credit score went down & you gained a hard inquiry for nothing.) It's smart to check your credit before applying for new things, just so you make sure you qualify for whatever it is you're trying to get. Don't get a hard inquiry for no reason!
Applying for a mortgage. Depending on who you go through for lending, when you apply for a mortgage loan it will likely result in a hard inquiry.
Since you are seeking to borrow a nice amount of money, they want to know you’re able to make your payments on time and consistently.
Renting furniture &/or appliances. Majority of furniture rental places are credit based.
📝🚨 If you’re thinking about financing something & the sales rep asks you for your name & other personal information, it’s always good for you to ask them, “will this affect my credit?”
👉🏾 If they say yes, kindly decline or tell them you would rather not have your credit file pulled.
📝 Inquiries usually stay on your credit report for 2 years and can drop your score up to 10 points per hard inquiry. *The older your credit history, the less the inquiry will effect your credit. Also, the older the inquiry the less it will effect your credit*
📝🚨 NOTE: If you notice hard inquiries on your credit reports when you check them at Experian.com (you want to see ALL 3 BUREAUS so sign up for the free trial) you can do this to REMOVE THEM: