What is a hard inquiry?

1
What is a Hard Inquiry?
Not all inquiries are made equal. Do you know the
difference? 
2
A credit inquiry, often referred to as a credit
check, is a process where a company or person
requests for your credit information from any of
the top three credit bureaus TransUnion,
Experian, and Equifax. 
3
What is a Hard Inquiry?
Hard inquiries, also known as a hard pull, are
typically associated with having a
lender/creditor pull your credit report because
you want some type of credit with them.
4
Hard inquiries arent limited to loan
applications though. Some other examples of hard
inquiries include

• Apartment rental applications
• New utility applications
• Credit card applications
• Collection agency skip tracing
• Application for credit limit increase
• Loan applications for students, automobile,
  personal, mortgage, etc.
• Request for lines of credit

5
Are there other types of inquiries?
6
As with anything dealing with credit, Hard
inquiries arent the only type. The good news is
the other type do not affect your credit score.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC
BY-SA
7
Soft inquiries differ from hard inquiries, as
soft inquiries arent recorded in your credit
report for others to see and do not impact your
credit score. Account review inquiries (current
creditor you have a business relationship with
checking your credit to see if they want to up
your limit or possibly even reduce your limit)
fall under this category. Sometimes inquiries get
miscategorized, so make sure you are monitoring
your credit report for these type of mistakes.
8
How many points does a hard inquiry affect credit
score?
Quick and easy answer is, generally less than 5
points but with anything credit related, it
always varies depending on several other
factors.
9
Fraudulent inquiries do happen. Be sure to
monitor your credit report for any suspicious
activity. If you ever need any guidance, you can
always contact one of our credit analyst for some
free advice. 
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