Hard vs. soft credit inquiries
Key takeaways
04 · ideas- Hard inquiries occur when you apply for new credit
- Soft inquiries such as pre-approvals and self-checks do not affect your score
- Multiple mortgage or auto inquiries within 14-45 days count as one
- Hard inquiries remain on your report for 2 years but score impact fades after 1 year
Basic level
The essentials · 1 min
A credit inquiry is a request to view your credit report.
Soft inquiries: Do not affect your score. Examples:- Checking your own credit
- Pre-qualification checks by lenders
- Employer background checks
- Credit card applications
- Mortgage, auto loan, or personal loan applications
Hard inquiries typically reduce a FICO score by 2-10 points, with most recovering within a few months.
Intermediate level
How it applies · 1 min
The rate-shopping exception
When shopping for a mortgage, auto loan, or student loan, multiple hard inquiries from the same loan type within a short window are treated as a single inquiry in most FICO models:
- FICO 8 and 9: 45-day window
- Older FICO models: 14-day window
Getting quotes from five mortgage lenders within 30 days has the same score impact as getting one quote. This exception applies to the same loan type — a mortgage inquiry and a credit card application in the same week are two separate hard inquiries.
Duration
Hard inquiries remain on your report for two years. Under most FICO models, they only affect your score for the first 12 months.
Advanced level
The math, step by step · 1 min
Score tier impact
Higher-score consumers experience larger absolute drops from an inquiry than lower-score consumers — proportionally similar, but larger in points. For thin-file consumers (fewer than 5 accounts), each inquiry represents a larger portion of available credit history data and may have a larger scoring impact.
Multiple recent inquiries across different credit types can be interpreted as a risk signal by scoring models, distinct from the rate-shopping exception applied to same-type loans within a defined window.