Hard Credit Pull vs Soft Credit Pull
Credit inquiries
Whenever someone “checks your credit” they are essentially putting a notation on your credit history. Some of the “notations” can have adverse effects on your credit score, while some will not.
Soft credit pull
A soft credit pull, as you may have guessed, won’t have any adverse effects on your credit score. Some examples of soft credit pulls include a creditor periodically checking you credit, or a credit counseling service checking your credit (with your permission, of course)
Hard credit pull
A hard credit pull, on the other hand, can affect your credit score. Hard credit pulls are generally done by lenders when you are wanting a loan, or trying to extend your credit by some other means. Why can hard credit pulls be bad? Well, if a lender sees that you have a large amount of hard pulls, they may think that you are a credit risk, therefore declining your loan.
What to do…
In order to prevent you credit from being effected, you should be conscience of who is checking it and why.
Bonus - Institutions that do hard credit pulls
Just as I was finishing this article, I came across a post on the Fat Wallet forums that has a nice list of insitutions that do hard pulls. Be sure to regularly check the post on Fat Wallet to stay updated.
- American Express Co. pulled Experian for a One Financial account without margin (combination brokerage/savings).
- Bank of America pulled Trans Union for a checking account.
- Bank of America pulled Experian for a checking account. (8/29/06)
- Bank Of America - Pulled a hard enquiry after applying *only* for savings account.
- Cingular Wireless pulled Equifax.
- Citibank pulled Equifax (for opening 6-month CD)
- Citibank pulled Trans Unions for a checking and savings account opened at the same time.
- Citibank pulls hard inquiry for opening e-Savings account
- Citizens - checking - equifax
- Comcast cable TV and HSI
- Countrywide
- Directv
- GMAC Bank - pulled TU for their MM savings account
- Pentagon Federal Credit Union
- Qwest
- Schwab did hard pull from equifax for a checking account.
- SCOTTRADE did a HARD on my Equifax CR
- Sprint Long Distance for having them as the LD provider on a home phone.
- State Farm Auto Insurance for getting an auto insurance quote.
- Suntrust pulls an Equifax for opening of a checking account
- T-Mobile for cell phone service on Transunion or Equifax
- TD Waterhouse/Ameritrade pulled Equifax on an exisiting customer to open IRA
- Thrifty RENT A CAR did hard pull prior to rental
- US Bank
- Verizon - landline, DSL, or VoIP (on Equifax or TransUnion)
- Wachovia-Trans union (or Equifax in some cases) for opening a checking account
- Wells Fargo
